Sisterly Advice
Samuel Summers wasn’t normally a lurker. By and large, he could be heard coming from a mile away, and those moments when he startled someone by NOT being heard coming from a mile away made his insides churn. There was good attention, and there was bad attention, and being a lurker never got good attention.
He was a lurker today, though, waiting for his older sister to pass by on her way back from class. She’d probably be with a bunch of her friends, because girls traveled in packs. Like wolves, only not like wolves, because wolves didn’t mysteriously disappear into the loo together or give each other enigmatic looks while you were talking to them or laugh when you hadn’t even MEANT TO BE FUNNY. Wolves were actually easier to understand than girls.
They also probably ate you, so it was a toss up about which he’d rather encounter in the corridor at Hogwarts.
Cecelia Summers appeared, blessedly alone, and Sammy popped out of his lurker spot just inside a classroom door. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of him, but it was generally a fairly mild reaction to lurkering. Lurking. Lurkerdom. “Did you miss me, or are you lost?”
He’d been lost like ONE TIME his first year, geez. “Can I talk to you?”
“Sure, Sam. Of course.” He was glad he’d caught her alone, because her friends would tease him or be sarcastic or ask extra questions, but Cece just went soft around the eyes and closed them both into an empty classroom. “What’s up?”
And now the moment was here, and it felt TERRIBLE. Like pulling his own teeth, only it was like pulling his own teeth except without knowing where his teeth were or having any tools to do it with. “Why… are… girls…?”
“Yeah, right?” Cece took a seat on the top of a desk like it was a padded throne. “Why ARE girls? Impossible? Complicated? Mean but nice but mean when you want them to be nice and nice when you want them to be mean? And so pretty all the time, like is that FAIR? And why are girls so confusing?”
Sammy sagged a little with relief. All those things. Yes. “Yeah?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me.”