Coming back

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan walked through the doors into the entrance hall. It seemed like forever since he had been in the school. It had been a year since he went back home into the muggle world to deal with family troubles. As he walked into the hall and went up the first few steps he decided to sit down there and look around, take everything in. How many people that he knew were still here? Would it still be the same? After everything that had happened in the past year, would he still have the same feeling about being here? So many questions ran through his mind as he looked around.

[Portia Tremlett]

Portia took her time going down the stairs, placing each heeled boot-clad foot delicately in front of the other. She wasn't in a hurry, and besides, her new boots needed broken in before she could really take off in them. As she neared the bottom, she paused and glanced back over her shoulder. There was a cute boy sitting only a couple steps down, and though she knew better, she couldn't seem to help herself. She and her sister were so competitive sometimes.

"Hey, tall, dark, and brooding," she said. Mindful of just how short her skirt was, her hands smoothed it against her thighs as she moved to sit next to him. "Girl trouble?" That would be the easiest to work with.

[Helena Tremlett]

Helena raised an eyebrow at her sister as Portia took a seat. She usually could tell the difference between a challenge and a warning look from her sister but the glance had been so brief that she'd barely caught it at all. Even if Helena had seen, she probably would still have treated either glance the same - as a challenge. She often felt like she was always playing catch-up, and not just as they walked down the stairs.

"Why else would one sit in the middle of the stairway?" She picked up her pace for the last few steps and sat on the side opposite her sister. Placing her hands innocently on her dark skinny jeans, she looked the cute boy over. She continued to talk around him, wondering if that might cause a reaction. "Think maybe he's trying to dump his girlfriend without breaking her heart?"

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan looked up at the two girls who were fairly pretty. He figured they were probably sisters. He listened to what they said, and after a second he answered "No and no. Family problems, and I don't have a girlfriend right now because the last one I had decided to leave me and the school without ever telling me she was going to." but that was a long time ago, he thought. She had come back since then, and then last year he was the one to leave without telling her. He wondered if Vannah was still here. He let himself look over the two girls and realized that they were much prettier than he had first thought.

[Portia Tremlett]

"A family man," Portia observed. She nodded briefly to her sister in approval, but whatever she would have said next didn't come when she thought about her own family, and Lawliet back home. "Nice hat, cowboy," she said at last. "You American?"

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan nodded, "Yes I am. Just came back from home." he said softly, with a thought about the past year at home. In a way he was glad to be away from it, glad to be back at school, but in another way he wished he was back home, taking care of things there.

[Helena Tremlett]

"Were you home long?" Helena asked, wondering what it might be like to have a home to miss. Sure, her and Portia had a house, a couple of them actually, but she'd never been homesick for any specific place. She was used to traveling about with family and was used to missing one parent or the other that she wasn't with at the time. Helena didn't think that missing people was the same as having a specific place that felt like her own though, and brushed the thought aside before it had time to settle. She loved her life, her family, and all the excitement they'd had traveling.

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan spaced out for a moment, and finally realized that the other girl had asked a question "I was there for a year. Had some things that I needed to take care of and help out with. Doesn't really seem like it has been a year though. In some ways it seems a lot shorter, in some a lot longer." He said and let out a soft sigh, trying not to make it too noticeable. He looked from one girl to the other, and after a minute asked "So which is the older sister?"

[Portia Tremlett]

"Me," Portia said, then, "Do you have ADD? You look like you blanked out, and I heard ADD is common with Americans. Of course, I also heard that Americans are always seeing UFOs, but most of what you hear is all made up anyway." If he'd already lost interest, maybe she'd just leave him to Helena, whoever he was.

[Helena Tremlett]

Helena surpressed the urge to laugh at the comment. Leave it to Portia to speak her mind."Portia..." she hissed the name, as if to tell her to behave, even if it was partially justified. He really did seem like he wasn't quite in the conversation and she just didn't understand that. "It's not his fault that he's American and simply not able to keep up with normal people....."

Helena paused for effect for a moment as a sly grin graced her features. "I'm sure he's simply overwhelmed with the likes of us." She wasn't really conceited, but it was so fun and easy to play the part.

[Portia Tremlett]

"You're such a brat!" Portia teased. She leaned lightly across the boy to push playfully at her sister, and for a moment, the soft scent of her purfume hovered in the air. It was just a hint of some juicy fruit, some exotic blossom, and she grinned at Helena before sitting back again and looking at the boy. "My name's Portia," she said. "Like in Shakespeare."

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan watched the sisters little back and forth and then said "A shame, Shakespeare deserves better than door a silly little girl to be named after his work. Americans are much different than we are portrayed, and no I do not have ADD. If you were dealing with your parents divorce, your dad having heart surgery, several deaths in the family, and coming back to a place where everything I do ends up in the Prophet, you would seem a little distracted too."

He spoke calmly throughout the whole time " I know your game,and I am willing to play along, but I am not some foolish little first year that you can both string along. You bite, and I bite back" He finished with a little grin as he looked at the two girls.

[Portia Tremlett]

"You don't know me," Portia snapped. "Ass." She stood up, resisting the urge to slap that smirk off his face, and took the last few steps at a clip. She wasn't staying around with that bastard when he couldn't tell the difference between teasing and blatant insults, and she didn't care who'd died, they were probably glad to get away from that unintelligent jerk. She had problems too, heartwrenching ones.

[Helena Tremlett]

"If you really knew the Game, you'd know that talking about it means you lose. Obviously you aren't very good at it." Helena had stood up right along with Portia and had turned around at the bottom of the stairs to shoot daggers at the obviously clueless no-name American. She hadn't paid attention to the excuses he'd given for his actions, it all sounded like a whiny pitty party. She'd been distracted by him calling Portia a silly little girl. Is he blind? Even I can see that she is anything but. "Get a clue, get a life, and get some manners while you're at it."

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan laughed as the two sisters turned away. "I do have a clue, I do have a life, and I do have some manners, but I decided to keep this out of the papers today. Have a nice day, we will likely see each other again. " While he would have liked to play the game, he decided that he would rather not end up giving Gaby and Dahlia something to write about on his first day back to school. He sat back against the steps and looked up. First day back, and he seemed a little different than when he left. He wasn't sure if he liked it yet. Part of him thought that he should have just played along.