so long and goodnight.

JAKE GOLDSTEIN Eighteen. Half-blood. Hufflepuff. Cornish-Scotsman. Older brother. Resident class clown. 26 May, 1960 - 8 December, 1978.

[asheravery-deactivated20210308]

our dearly (and not so dearly) departed.

[lokcscreen]

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

MARCEAUX TRAVERS.

ASHER AVERY.

The decision came more readily than Asher had expected. For all of the anger that he owned up to, he was surprised at the additional strength that he could feel inside of him. As if this was the moment where he would finally have some justice in the world. Maybe it wasn’t for his mother, but it could be for him. A brief time when he was in control, and the world stopped spinning despite him, and started spinning because of him.

Asher’s wand never wavered, his gaze never settling on the boy before him. This had never been about Jake. This had barely even been about Caroline. Her betrayal had ushered in another blow to a boy who was already standing on the precipice of something. They were all bearing witness to a snap. A shattering of a facade that had long ago been broken. The once kind, light-hearted boy was no more. The boy Caroline had known–vanished. That was the price that had to be paid when the world became crueler, and the stakes were raised higher.

“I guess you were right, Caroline. You were going to help me commit a murder.” He let the words settle. He let the fear trickle in. Torture had never been his style, although, neither had murder. Asher had his own code that he lived by. 

Asher closed his eyes, and instead of Jake, he pictured Prija. He pictured his father. No, Jake didn’t deserve this, but no one ever did.

Another glance towards his old friend, and Asher took a step off the cliff of morality. “Avada Kedavra.” The green light sprung to life from his wand, and before he knew it, the boy in front of him was nothing more than an unmoving sculpture with little evidence that he had been alive before this.

Asher lowered his wand, no longer shaking. No longer feeling. He was sure it would have felt different to see the light leave someone’s eyes. How disappointing it was to realize that, despite how much he hated his father, he was more like him than he could ever know.

With a look over his shoulder at Marceaux, Asher gave his consent. The three people left standing in that Tower knew Asher wouldn’t have been able to kill Caroline, but luckily enough, Caroline had given him one last parting gift. A way to prove himself in the shape of the now still Jake Goldstein. 

As green light reflected off the tower’s stones, Marceaux let his spell slip from Caroline, dropping her to the floor before the lifeless body of her friend. Her cries for mercy fell on deaf ears as unadulterated glee filled Travers at the way the night had progressed. He’d sought only to make Avery understand; see the error in trusting a mudblood, letting it walk free under the guise of false purity.

But when he’d found the man, he’d already been seeking an explanation for himself. When the time had come, Asher had possessed the power to take the answers unreadily given; the power to take life as a consequence.

The smile on Marceaux’s face was no longer cold, it was genuine. His chest warmed with adrenaline as the world was righted before him, cleansed. Margeaux’s warning rang in his ears as Asher nodded his approval, willing him to finish what they’d started. As Travers towered over Caroline he longed to make her suffer, to hear her pain echo across the grounds, but there would be others to take her place.

“Avada Kedavra.”

[ fin ]

[sneakyp]

Visit Original Link

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

MARCEAUX TRAVERS.‌

ASHER AVERY.

In an instant, the temperature dropped. Asher could practically see his breath in the air, his eyes clinging to each particle, as if looking at them for an answer to this madness. There was no place to hide for Caroline, or for Asher. With an audience, they were both stuck in the sort of hell that was saved for those who had committed the most heinous of crimes. If Asher flinched, he put a mark on his back that screamed weakness. If Caroline tried to get away, green light would follow her all the way down the Astronomy Tower steps.

Asher’s wand arm started to drop when his eyes locked onto Jake’s fumbling hand. Without a word, Asher flicked his wrist, flying the struggling wizard’s wand directly into his other hand. 

It was then that a thought occurred to him. One not at all pleasant, and not consistent with his character for most of his life. Instead of positioning the wand once more at Caroline, he moved it over to Jake. “Do you really want me to do that now, Caroline?“ This sort of cruelty was foreign to Asher. Yet, he understood himself well enough to know that this wasn’t anything more than a reluctance to harm a friend. Looking at her, a fire in her eyes–how badly he wanted to reach out and apologize. To pluck at her tights once more, and pretend that none of this mattered.

Travers stepped to the side, allowing Asher to take his place beside the hanging wizard without protest. He may actually like where this was going. Moving his wand to the witch, Marceaux allowed his Levicorpus spell on the wizard to falter, dropping the man to the stones below. In the same movement, he cast a body-bind spell on Caroline, leaving her head free from the spell so she could answer Asher’s question.

Turning his wrist to rotate Caroline’s immobile form, he forced her to look directly at the pair of wizards. One, wandless, the other: armed and enraged. Travers smiled with a chilling delight as he stood behind the frozen witch, wand trained on her heart.

At last, the tears she had warded off for years sprung to the surface. Tears for the father she had lost, for the mother she had been ashamed of, for the life she had denied herself by playing into these people’s hands. Would it have ended any differently if she had been honest? Would she be with her peers in the quidditch stands now, cheering for a different team if she had chosen to be proud of her heritage instead? Or would she still have been on this tower roof, where it would have been easier for Asher to cast his spell without hesitation?

Caroline looked down at Jake, small and bloodied on the cold stone floor. Maybe she didn’t belong in this world after all. This was all her fault, damage done at the hands of a mudblood. 

“Don’t,” Caroline plead quietly. “This doesn’t have anything to do with him.” She turned her head back towards Asher, the only piece of herself she still had control over—the only piece of her life she still had control over. “Just do whatever you have to do and leave him out of it. Please.”

Jake’s heart raced, beating at such an alarming rate it seemed as though it would burst out of his chest and thrash on the ground like a fish plucked from its watery home. He wanted to scream, to lunge at the other wizards and grab his wand, and somehow run run for the exit with Caroline in tow. But no act of heroism ever came, no valor in the face of evil, no hidden bravery laying dormant in his body and ready for action. Instead, Jake was affronted with the bleak reality that stitched beneath skin housed the terrified essence of merely a boy, one who desired nothing more than to awaken from this hellish nightmare and envelope himself in the warm embrace of his mother. 

Warm tears formed in Jake’s brown eyes as his gaze shifted between the three wixen, only to finally land on Caroline. Kind, generous, wonderful Caroline Brown---his friend. He nodded at her, eyes locked on hers with an intensity, and hoped in some way she could pluck the thoughts from his mind and truly understand.  

It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. 

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

MARCEAUX TRAVERS.

ASHER AVERY.

Asher shook his head. No. Couldn’t she see that the damage had already been done? As soon as Vivian became aware of what was going on, the world itself should have been clued in on what would come next. Caroline couldn’t have been that foolish to think that things could be talked out. She wasn’t stupid, she simply banked on her own ability to talk her way out of a situation for anything else to really matter. But there was no point in further trying to talk about things now. Caroline had lied, and now Marceaux knew, his towering presence a constant reminder that the whole situation was hanging delicately by a string. How easy it would be to cut it.

He raised up his wand, his arm shaking despite himself. Emotions had been so easy to tightly pack away, and now they were spilling out of him like blood. The real fool in all of this had always been Asher, and would always be Asher. His heart, still untainted by true hate, was as susceptible to a kind word as a moth to light. This was his punishment to hold, if only he could get a hold of himself.

“We both know it’s too late for that now, Caroline. We both know that Marceaux has never been the forgiving kind–and neither am I.”

“Admit it. Tell me the fucking truth.” His wand was still pointed at Caroline, his heart still pounding in a fury inside of his chest. Judge. Jury. Could he be the executioner?

Watching the blood drip from the hanging wizard, Marceaux’s smirk slowly grew. The beast of judgment was awake now, and there was little the liar nor the fool could do to escape him. In fact, there was nothing at all. Returning his attention to the liar, Travers didn’t miss the tremors in Avery’s wand arm. Disappointing but understandable, not everyone had the strength to serve justice. Marceaux would insist, show Asher he could find the strength, or he would do it for him.

For now, he had the right, so all the taller wizard did was turn a cold smile towards Caroline, urging an answer.

The world around Caroline began to blur. She was vaguely aware of the chilled December air against her cheeks, of the distant cheers at the Quidditch pitch where their unknowing peers celebrated the first official match of the season. Even Marceaux, as Asher had called him, was of no consequence to her now. Years of memories and compassion and trust had condensed themselves like an accordion, the air and fluff squeezed out until they amounted to nearly nothing. Maybe that was how Asher had felt hearing Caroline had lied; but standing on the roof of the Astronomy tower, staring down the end of her dear friend’s wand—that was precisely how it felt to her now.

“It’s true. They’re Muggles.” Caroline looked over Asher’s wand, surveying every inch of the wood from the tip and onward until she reached his face. A wand was capable of many things; its wielder, on the other hand— “And this is why I did it.” Her eyes traveled back from Asher’s face to his wand, and back again. She swallowed the lump in her throat, the taste of her own indignation rising bitterly into her mouth.

How could it be worth all of this?

“Are you going to do it?” Caroline didn’t know what it was. It could be pain; it could be death. Whatever it was, she almost begged for it to happen. Stubborn anger rose from nothing in her blood, bubbling to a boil. All of these years, avoiding the truth, avoiding what it might bring her, only to be staring it in the face now. What a waste of time; what a waste of life. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Do it, Asher,” Caroline commanded, her voice quiet and cold as her arms tightened beneath her chest. “Go on. Show us how you really feel.”

The ringing in Jake’s ears grabbed most of his attention, making it more challenging to hear the other wixen speak. Perhaps it was the rigid way the three held their bodies, or the chill that ran up his spine, but deep down in his soul, he felt impending doom. Despite his arms feeling more flimsy than paper, Jake reached for his boots in an attempt to grab the rowan wand nestled all too comfortably there. 

@asheravery​

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

MARCEAUX TRAVERS.

ASHER AVERY.

“This isn’t any of your business,” Asher stated, silently urging the boy to stop. To step aside. To let the conversation to be had in the name of sanity. The more he put himself between Caroline and Marceaux and Asher, the worse things would become.

“Your parents are muggles, Caroline. You lied.” Asher didn’t give a shit about blood purity. There was zero space in his mind to worry or bother about things like that. But he did care about being made a fool of. About being used. Prija had opened and re-opened that wound a million times by now, and it had come as a shock to Asher that it was Caroline that might have dealt the deadliest blow.

He took a breath. “You need to tell your friend to get out of the way.”

A nonviolent protest, how disappointing.

Marceaux flicked his wand at the wizard, silently casting Levicorpus so the man was jerked up by his ankle, head smashing into the cobblestone as Travers purposefully held his wand too low. Keeping the length of yew trained on the man’s ankle, he lifted and moved the wizard off to his left, out of the way of Asher and Caroline.

Tapping the side of the man’s face indelicately, Travers smiled, “Quiet now, there’s a trial in progress.”

In the worst of her dreams, Caroline had envisioned this happening. The disgusted faces of her peers, the whispers of her dorm mates from behind the shelter of her four poster’s curtains, the matched confusion and disappointment on her mother’s face when she appeared at her childhood home in Cambridge and begged her to move them away for her their protection. But in Caroline’s fantasies, and even in her nightmares, she had always come out with the upper hand. People who understood her plight, who helped her get back on her feet.

The only person who was willing to stand beside her was being slammed up against the wall behind her.

Right now, as Caroline stared into Asher’s face, she realized how foolish that had been. What had been the point in lying to people who mattered? What had been the point of digging a deep hole for herself when she’d left herself no escape and brought no protection? But the rest of the castle didn’t know yet, did they? Maybe there was a way to put a stop to the rumors before they started. Or at least a way to escape the cold and broad wizard staring her down, to get him away from the innocent and undeserving Jake.

“Asher, let’s go somewhere else.” Caroline wrapped her arms around herself as she took a step forward, one that placed her between Jake and the other wizard. “If you want to talk, we can talk, but let’s not do it here.”

In all his wildest dreams---nay, his nightmares---Jake never believed he would find himself in this situation. Head now ringing and blood pooling out of his ears after sashing into the one, the taller wizard had the Hufflepuff levitating in the air, dangling from his ankles. Jake couldn’t speak, only his mouth moving the motions to form words that never came. 

@asheravery​

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

MARCEAUX TRAVERS.

ASHER AVERY.

Asher was looking at Caroline when he heard the footsteps come up behind him. Any figure would have been better to see than Marceaux, but fate always had enjoyed times like these. It was then, as Asher turned back to Caroline, that he knew the situation was already out of his control. Had it just been him–had her friend not have been there, there was a chance that maybe, just maybe something could be worked out.

But Marceaux changed things. Not only was Asher now the focus of Caroline’s attention, now Marceaux was going to be looking at him with hawk eyes. Anything said. Any movement made, all of it would be reported back to others. Asher couldn’t appear weak, nor apologetic. The games of the world were at play, and the schemes of people far older than him were to blame.

“Is it true? Did you lie?” He managed, or at least he thought he managed, an even tone, one without a waver. “Did you lie to me, Caroline?”

Asher could feel Marceaux’s presence. The hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Fate was a cruel mistress indeed.

As Marceaux entered the observatory he stayed silent, counting on his presence alone to elevate the situation. Tapping his wand against his thigh he gazed down at Caroline’s companion with cold amusement in his eyes, the smirk on his lips twitching upwards at Asher’s words. Perhaps Margeaux had misread him. Perhaps the weight of betrayal so soon after Prija had reawakened the man Marceaux knew Avery to be.

Tonight may deserve a souvenir to remember by.

Straightening to make use of his full height, Travers kept his attention on Caroline’s companion but shifted his gaze to the mudblood, as though envisioning her pain would make it come quicker. He could wait, Asher had the right, but if her boyfriend so much as twitched towards a wand Marceaux was prepared to send him crashing into the wall behind the pair.

For a moment, Caroline thought her heart had skipped a beat. No, she realized when her pulse didn’t return; it was beating, and she was simply to numb from terror to feel it. Her eyes scanned the menacing wizard standing behind Asher a renewed curiosity, one she didn’t want to be satisfied. His gaze was cold; his smile was too thin; and Caroline didn’t want to know the reason for either circumstance.

This can’t be happening, Caroline thought as she focused her eyes back on Asher. She wanted to leave. She wanted to take him by the hand, to go somewhere more private and talk. But it was too late for that now, wasn’t it? Her lungs took their first breath since she had noticed the second wizard, long and shallow as she steadied her face.

“Lie about what?” Caroline asked slowly—as if the question wasn’t an answer in and of itself.

Jake firmly believed in putting forth actions behind his words. He wanted to be Caroline’s friend, truly, and so he encouraged himself to step in front of her, using his body as a partial barrier between her and the pair of wizards. Palms faced upwards in a motion that encouraged all parties to calm the clear, sharp tension. 

“Oi, let’s cool it a little, yeah?” 

@asheravery​

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

MARCEAUX TRAVERS.

ASHER AVERY.

Asher had spent the better part of the afternoon attempting to find Caroline. Most of the time, as he rounded the corner, he silently hoped he wouldn’t see her at all. Let her be hidden from him. Let her be safe. And then, just as quickly as those thoughts took hold, a simmering anger bubbled up beneath. Liar. After all she had been willing to do for him, perhaps the worst thing was offer him friendship. Something steady to lean against. And now they were both going to pay the price for the comfort. Caroline wasn’t stupid, she had to know that as soon as her secret came out, there would be consequences, Asher just wasn’t sure if he was ready to enact that sort of justice.

The last place Asher decided to look was the Astronomy Tower. He had been up there a few times previous, once with Ophelia and a bottle of liquor. Now, everything felt wrong. He could hear voices echoing down the stairway, one of them capturing his attention. Caroline was there, but she wasn’t alone.

He kept a steady pace up the stairs and was greeted with the sight of Caroline sitting next to another boy. Asher wasn’t jealous. Actually, his first thought was how he was supposed to get the boy out of there before anything escalated. Before he saw something he shouldn’t.

“Caroline.” Asher said, his voice level at an attempt to give nothing away. What the fuck was he supposed to do? Vivian had made her thoughts clear on the situation, but why the fuck was he supposed to be some harbinger of justice? Hadn’t he already done enough?

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Following Margeaux’s revelation of Caroline Brown’s deception, Marceaux set off in search of Asher. Although ‘friend’ was a bit of a stretch, Travers had always respected Avery, believing him to be a worthy ally against the impure. Now, as he had no reason to doubt his sister’s words, Marceaux had to steer the other back towards the path of righteousness.

Spotting the man as he entered the Astronomy Tower, Travers trailed behind just enough to keep from being spotted. As he entered he heard three distinct voices, Asher’s he could identify and he’d mentioned Caroline’s name… but who was this other male in the tower. A slow smile crept across Travers’ face, it didn’t much matter who.

Turning around, Marceaux locked the tower doors, securing the exits with Anti-Alohomora spells just in case someone tried to interrupt. As he ascended quietly he fingered his wand, preparing to serve judgment.

It had been a few days since Caroline had seen Asher. And while she had missed his company, something about the stiffness in his stature made her think that the company he had come to offer now wasn’t the kind she sought. Something was wrong; she could tell as much easily. Her eyes traveled to Jake, almost apologetic for the interruption, before they rested on Asher.

“Are you alright?” Footsteps echoed in the distance, coming closer up the stairwell, and Caroline realized that they were not alone. Something was off. All of these weeks spent showing Asher that he could trust, reteaching him the meaning of friendship—and here she was, narrowing her eyes at him in distrust. “What’s going on?”

Before Jake realized, two other wizards stood in front of the pair. It left him with an uneasy feeling, a cool chill running up his back that couldn’t be attributed to the chilly winter air. His gaze shifted between the three, finally landing on Caroline in hopes of putting his worries at ease. Relief never came, though.

@asheravery​

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

Stir crazy was a good description of how Caroline felt. She wondered, though, if the fresh air would really do anything for her when the place she felt trapped inside was predominantly herself. Somehow, Jake’s company helped. Caroline smiled kindly at him. Maybe instead of pushing him away for his own good, she should have kept him close for her own good.

“I’m glad you came around,” Caroline admitted, still grinning. She looked out over the grounds, what she could see of them, and released a deep sigh before she repeated something she’d told Asher time and again. “No one can ever have too many friends, can they?”

“No, I suppose they can’t.” 

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

Caroline Brown had never particularly cared for Astronomy, nor had she ever found herself to be especially talented at it. That was why, on a day like today, when she felt the world closing in on her, she found solace in the empty and inviting space. No one would expect to find her there. It made the perfect place to clear her head, to convince herself that the sudden shift in the students around her was not as much her fault as her anxieties liked to pretend. Midterms were coming up, after all, and not just for them, but for Caroline, too. Maybe the fresh air would help her grades, too.

She had just begun to find her head space livable again when the door behind her burst open. Caroline turned, surprised—and admittedly relieved when she saw that it was only Jake Goldstein. She smiled at the Hufflepuff softly.

“Fresh air,” Caroline repeated with a wink as she patted the seat beside her invitingly. “Which sounds borderline insane for the end of November, but it’s doing me well.”

Jake’s body pulled him forward until suddenly, without realizing, he found himself sitting next to the witch in the precise seat she patted. “Fresh air is good for you, even now. Being cooped up inside is--- It makes me feel dizzy after too long. Bit stir crazy, too.” Other words rested on his tongue, anxiously waiting to spill from his lips---words he had long owed Caroline but hadn’t found the right time to say. 

“Caroline, I’m sorry for---” Jake paused, recalling the month of time that passed since their last encounter, filled with countless moments of him ducking out of the way to avoid another awkward encounter. Now affronted with the witch, he realized that it was anything but uncomfortable. If anything, Caroline left him quite at ease. Maybe she had been right all along; they could be friends. Great friends, rather. 

“I reckon I’ve been acting like a baby for awhile, and... Well, you know, that’s not fair to you or kind. And I’d still like to try and be friends, if you’d like.”

[jakegoldenstein]

When: 8 December 1978 Where: Astronomy Tower Who: Jake & @asilvercarolining​

Above all else, Jake Goldstein needed fresh air---although he certainly wouldn’t turn away a ham and cheese sandwich if presented to him. As evening blanketed the Hogwarts grounds, the wizard made his way toward the Astronomy Tower in hopes of breathing in the outside air and gazing at seemingly endless stars. He hardly expected solitude, of course, but he least of all expected spotting only one witch, Caroline Brown, who he managed to avoid for the past month. This instance proved difficult to avoid, almost immediately catching the witch’s attention. 

“Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn’t--- I just--- fresh air?”

[jakegoldenstein]

OPHELIA SELWYN.

“Yeah, I guess I’m just special that way,” she drawled with her special brand of self-deprecation. 

“Fair enough.” Jake chuckled breathily, not precisely at this witch but rather her dry humor amused him. It was nothing like his own, nothing he could ever dream of being, and he enjoyed company that took such an opposite form. 

“I’ve, uh--- I’ve gotta get going. Studying, and all. But I’ll see you around?” 

[ fin ]

[weewxtch]

the magic of muggles [8.9.78]

[jakegoldenstein]

LILY EVANS.

“No, it makes sense. It is lonely, having to leave people you’re close with behind to go do some other exciting thing you’ve had hopes for. You want them to be part of it and in some ways they sort of can be. It’s why I like writing home. I can’t have my family here with me, but they can come along on the journey if I tell them about it.” Lily pulled her eyes away from the view in front of them to look at Jake warmly.

“I think it’s brave too though. Being the oldest, Petunia forged the way for a long time. Even at Siren I could go to her for questions about maths and boys. Now though, this is all me. I know I said you’re lucky, but Peg and Nate and lucky too. You’re a little lonely now, but they’ll be less lonely later because of it.”

The grumble of her stomach interrupted her and Lily laughed outright in surprise and at how unapologetically soppy the two of them were being, “In terms of informing your assignment I’ve managed to completely waste your time, but if you’re graded on sentimental bonding I think Professor Egg will give you top marks.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her sandwich, unwrapping it as she spoke, “I’ll pull together some ‘essential listening’ records and we can find a time to sit down together in the Muggle Studies classroom and listen together on the gramophone. I don’t think my record player will be fixed soon enough.” She took a bite and shrugged, “I know I’m no surrogate for Nate and Peg, but I’m happy to be good company all the same.” 

Jake smiled almost gleefully, feeling immense satisfaction at not only the stunning view of rolling Scottish hills but also being understood by another soul. He didn’t have to put on airs with Lily. Somehow, without Jake really understanding why, she accepted him for precisely the wizard he was. Something about that filled him with warmness, and in that moment he decided he ought to be friends with Lily Evans for a long while---if she let him. 

“I reckon you’re right, and I’ve got to keep my quill and parchment at the ready for them. Just hopefully the won’t owl about maths; dad’s better with all that.” 

Jake followed suit and laughed as well, musing over their conversation that veered quite off course. Not that he minded in the slightest, however. He enjoyed getting to know others for who they were, not what, and already felt practically giddy imagining listening to ‘essential listening’, whatever that meant, with his new friend, 

“I dunno how I’m ever going to thank you properly, for all this. I reckon I got to shake Professor Egg’s hand properly for not pairing me with an utter knob.” 

[ fin ]

[jakegoldenstein]

OPHELIA SELWYN.

“Do you?” she responded, though she wasn’t really looking for an answer. She wasn’t interested in challenging this particular belief; she’d thought a lot about it over the years, and her answer was pretty solid. “Expectations are a way for someone to stake a claim on you without your permission. At best, you disappoint them; at worst, they trap you forever.” 

Jake nodded slowly as his lips formed into an O-shape. “I guess I never really thought of it that way.”

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

Caroline’s heart sank as she watched Jake scramble away. She liked him well enough; he was, after all, one of the few people at Hogwarts that Caroline felt she could trust. But as much as Caroline wanted to find a friend in Jake— Well, she knew better than to force friendship on anyone. Her lips pursed themselves together, angled into something of a frown.

“I’ll see you, sure,” Caroline said halfheartedly, unconvinced that Jake would make any effort to see her at all now. Her hand offered half a wave before she adjusted her bag strap on her shoulder and headed in the opposite direction, towards the Slytherin common room, where the only people she was fated to spend time with, apparently, awaited her.

[ fin ]

[jakegoldenstein]

CAROLINE BROWN.

“You’re a really nice guy, Jake. I know that’s not always easy to here, but— I don’t think I’m the sort of person you think I am.” Caroline bit her lip. She wanted to smile, she wanted to be reassuring, but it was hard to put on a brave face for something like this. “I don’t think we should waste our time disappointing each other when we could be really great friends instead.”

“Right, ‘course.” Jake swallowed hard primarily due to feeling as though a lemon had lodged itself in the back of his throat. His eyes met Caroline’s for only a moment before dashing back to the ground once again. 

“I’ve, uh---I’ve got to get---” As Jake began walking away backwards, he bumped into something. The impact didn’t deter his intense desire to flee, however. “Go. I gotta go. Homework and things, but, uh---thanks and, yeah. I get it. See you, then. Yeah?” By the time Jake’s rambling ceased, he found himself already halfway across the hall.