The Kendrick Household

[Isabella Kendrick]

Thud!

Bella looked up over the fashion magazine she had been bored enough to browse, only to find that the big lump of blankets that had been sprawled out on the couch had, with a painful-sounding thump, toppled over the edge. Oh, brother, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she went back to the overly colorful girly clothes displayed on the pages.

It seemed the fall was not enough to wake the completely unconscious Ms. Kendrick, which was a bonus, in Bella's opinion. Her mother was much more tolerable when passed out, albeit completely useless. When the girls were away at school, their three younger brothers were practically left to fend for themselves. It was a good thing that Xander had learned to cook at a very early age, or they'd all go hungry.

Assuming that the distractions were over for the time being, Bella flipped the page and was immediately assaulted by the most hideous, sparkly, hot pink dress she had ever seen in her life. People actually wore this crap? Even without a taste for feminine clothing, she knew that this was hardly "good fashion." But her thoughts were once again distracted by a loud, very angry-sounding voice screaming from upstairs. Since the only other female in the house (besides mother) was her sister, Bella knew who it was. She also knew that whatever it was, she didn't want to deal with it right now.

But Bianca was a persistent hag, Bella reminded herself and decided it would be wiser to just go see what she was in trouble for this time.

[Bianca Kendrick]

Bianca was at the top of the stairs, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for her good-for-nothing sister to acknowledge her. In one hand she was gripping a wrinkled black shirt an inside-out sock, and the other hand was placed on her hip. She was furious, and her face held none of her anger back. She had never been afraid to voice her opinions, especially to her immature sister, and this was no exception. They'd had a deal!

"Isabella Corinne!" she screamed once more down the stairway, hoping that the use of her middle name might coax Bella to respond. Then again, if she knew Bella at all, she was probably jamming to something on her headphones or, more than likely, simply ignoring her. Bianca began storming down the stairs, but didn't make it very far as she rounded the corner and practically collided with her sister.

"Oh... you could have said you heard me!" Bianca scolded her as she held up the clothes in her hand. "What exactly are these!?"

[Isabella Kendrick]

"I'm here, jeez!" Bella snapped back, trying to stifle her sister's shouts. They were giving her a headache, and if she kept it up, she might end up waking their mother, which was the last thing they needed. Eva Kendrick with a hangover was a less than pleasant situation.

She glanced at the items in Bianca's hand and quirked an eyebrow as if it was a trick question. At least she knew now what all the shouting had been about. Dirty laundry. She let out a soft, barely audible sigh.

"Those are clothes, sis," she pointed out, purposely being difficult. "You know, the things you wear so you don't wander around naked in public. They come in quite handy, don't you think?"

She dared to smirk at Bianca as she spoke, knowing that it would just rile her up some more. But that was the fun part, wasn't it?

"Was laundry really all you wanted to yell at me for? Because I was planning on doing it later. I don't have to pack until tomorrow morning."

Knowing Bianca, she had been packed for school a week ago, being the overachiever that she was. Bella just found it unnecessary.

[Bianca Kendrick]

Bianca was practically spitting in fury.

"No, that's not all!" she shouted and grabbed her sister's arm before dragging her into their bedroom. "Though you should be packing... You can't leave everything until the last minute. But that's not what I'm angry about. Do you remember this?"

She pointed to the thin white line that separated their bedroom into two equal halves. The line started from the middle of their doorway and extended all the way to the wall on the opposite side. The two halves looked almost like they were completely separate rooms. Not only were they painted differently, but the decorations were completely different. The left half was painted a pale lavender with bedding and curtains to match. The floor was tidy, the bed was made, the books were in the bookshelf, and there was only one painting on the wall, a scene of a large green field. The only other thing adorning the walls was a dry-erase board, which was filled with writing in several different colors. The clean clothes were in the dresser, and the dirty clothes were in the laundry hamper, waiting to be washed and packed away in the already mostly filled trunk at the foot of the bed.

The other half of the room, on the other hand, was painted with dark red walls. The bedding was black, and there were no curtains on the windows. There were dirty clothes all over the floor, as well as several books and shoes, the bed was a mess of blankets, and the walls were filled with paintings, which were Bella's own creations. There were also various posters from rock and heavy metal bands, like Marilyn Manson, Hundred Reasons, Muse, The Darkness, among others.

"Well, do you?!" Bianca asked again, her eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

[Isabella Kendrick]

Bella rolled her eyes as she answered, "Yes, I remember. You keep your stuff on your side and I'll keep my stuff on my side."

The two sisters had been rooming together their entire life and, needless to say, had gotten sick of each other years ago. Bella's untidy tendencies annoyed her sister to no end, so she had instated The Line to keep a nice pristine space for herself. Bianca couldn't stand messiness, as she demonstrated to anyone she could, and before The Line, Bella's stuff had taken up most of the room. Bianca had felt that it was necessary to take measures against it.

"So, what's your point?" Bella asked as she looked around the room and found no violation of The Line. "I've kept to my half... unless you're talking about this..." She walked over to where her trunk was resting, unopened, with a corner just barely crossing The Line. She shifted it back over to her side with her foot. "There, all better?"

[Bianca Kendrick]

How she was related to this blubbering idiot, Bianca would never figure out. Was she honestly so dense as to not even remember violating her sister's precious space? Of course there had been times when Bella violated the rule (which Bianca had instated against Bella's will, but that fact warranted no importance for her... it was for the greater good!), but usually she picked up on it and remedied the situation (either because she was truly sorry, which Bianca doubted, or because she just didn't want to deal with the hassle of being yelled at). This time, however, she was being a royal git. Though this wasn't a new development. Bella was always a bloody pain in the arse.

"No, that is not what I'm talking about!" she sputtered, pausing momentarily to assess whether her sister was being purposely stupid or honestly didn't realize what she'd done. But it was such a heinous crime! At least in Bianca's opinion. Her space was very important to her, as was keeping it clean. And she couldn't do that when her impossible roommate didn't follow the rules!

"I found these on my floor!" Bianca bellowed, brandishing the clothes she was holding in her sister's face. She hoped they were particularly smelly, too. She wouldn't know, she hadn't checked. "Your filthy, disgusting clothes on my half of the room! WHY WERE THEY THERE?!"

She was so furious that a vein had popped out from her temple, now extremely visible and throbbing. A normal person may have found it unnecessary to get so agitated over two little pieces of clothing, especially since picking them up and putting them into the hamper was a very tiny chore to accomplish, but Bianca had the rather bad tendency of stressing herself out over small, insignificant matters (though, to her, this violation of The Line was more than a "small" infraction). She stood there, holding the clothes out to Bella while waiting for some sort of explanation.

[Isabella Kendrick]

Bella stood before her sister, arms crossed and leaning against her own dresser, while Bianca ranted and raved about stupid things. She even opened up the magazine she still happened to be holding and pretended to not pay attention to a word that was being said (though even if she'd tried, she wouldn't be able to completely ignore her, given the volume of her voice), a completely apathetic expression on her face. The particular page that was open just rambled on about makeup tips and what the colors of the season were. Unimportant crap that wouldn't have interested her even if she had been focused on it. When her insane sister finally shut up, she set the magazine down on the top of the dresser, looking slightly confused, as if she was trying to figure out a difficult math problem. A few seconds passed before she gave a noncommittal shrug and sighed.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "I came home late last night and just threw on some pajamas. I must have tossed them aside without paying attention."

Bella grabbed the two garments from Bianca's grasp and tossed them into the only half-filled laundry basket. Wiping her hands off as if it had been a hard day's work, she turned back to her sister.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Was all that fuss really worth it?" She paused for a moment before rolling her eyes. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course it was... because you are a psycho!" As she said this, she promptly poked Bianca in the nose. "Loosen up."

Assuming that the problem had been solved (though nothing was ever really fixed where Bianca was concerned), Bella strode from the room, leaving the magazine where it was. Downstairs was more likely to much quieter, even with their mother's obnoxious snores coming out of the bundle of blankets she was wrapped up in. Hopefully Bianca would remain upstairs cleaning or something she considered "productive."

[Bianca Kendrick]

It was difficult for Bianca to comprehend the lack of attention that her sister described. She couldn't imagine going to bed before making sure that everything was done for the night. She had a routine every evening. First, after changing into her pajamas, she would brush her teeth and wash up, making sure to clean off the makeup from the day and apply her facial mask. Next, she would brush out her hair and braid it to keep it out of her face during the night. Then, she would tidy up her room, making sure the laundry was in its proper place, her books were back in their allotted spots on the shelves (which were organized alphabetically by author's last name), and the carpet was vacuumed. Finally, she would make sure her to-do list was up to date and that her clothes for the next day were picked out. By the time all of this was finished, she would be ready to rinse off the facial mask and climb into bed.

These steps she did every night, so Bella's excuse that she had stumbled in late was not acceptable to Bianca. If she had a routine to follow, then it wouldn't have happened. But what irritated Bianca the most was that Bella didn't even seem to care that she was upset. She just shrugged it off, as usual, and fled the situation. Instead of prolonging the argument, she would let her go... this time. Though her annoyance spiked once again when she realized that the magazine Bella had been perusing was hers. She stomped over to Bella's side of the room and snatched the magazine so she could put it in the right location.

But she wasn't completely finished with Isabella yet. There was more lecturing she needed to do. It was like she had a quota to fill; if she didn't lecture her sister at least three times a day, she would go through withdrawal or something. She just couldn't sit back and let her sister be an irresponsible slob when she could be so much neater and nicer to people. The universe had put her in this household for a reason, and she was convinced that that reason was to shape Bella into a proper woman.

Calmed down from her previous fury, Bianca followed her sister downstairs and found her on the couch in the living room. She assumed that the blankets on the floor in front of the couch was their mother, passed out from a night of partying and drinking with her sexual conquests. Eva's life disgusted Bianca, but because she was her mother, she tried to think of it as a disease instead of irresponsibility and laziness. She had tried many times to get mum to attend the alcoholics meetings, but she was still in denial about her issues and had determinedly refused. Bianca had not given up, but talking to her in this state was useless.

Isabella, on the other hand, was fully awake and able to listen to a rant, whether she wanted to or not.

"You really should get your laundry together," she started, her face stern and commanding. "And tidy up your side of the room. There are smells coming from something over there, and they're starting to make me nauseous."

At that moment, out of the corner of her eyes, Bianca noticed some envelopes on the liquor cabinet. Assuming that her mother had simply forgotten to open the mail after grabbing it from the mailbox, she wandered over and picked them up. Upon recognizing the emerald green ink and the Hogwarts seal, however, she turned to Bella with an inquisitive expression.

"When did these come? I don't remember hearing any owls."

[Isabella Kendrick]

Bella heard her sister's footsteps coming down the stairs and silently swore to herself. She just couldn't leave it alone, could she? Always had to have the last word in an argument, even when Bella clearly didn't care or had already submitted to her fury. Both of them had inherited the trait for stubbornness from their mother, but it seemed that Bianca felt strongly enough about many more subjects than Bella did and, thus, had more cause to demonstrate said stubbornness.

Instead of listening, or even pretending to so she would go away, Bella stuck her fingers in her ears and let out a loud, "Lalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you!" Perhaps she'd get the hint this time... but then again, knowing Bianca and how persistent she could be, the chances of her actually leaving Bella alone, hint or not, were extremely low.

When it was clear that she had been distracted by something else, Bella took her fingers out of her ears and looked around for the television remote. She found it on the floor next to the coffee table and hit the power button; the screen turned on to some sappy soap opera so she quickly started flipping through the channels. News, blah. Chick flick, nope. Football, that would work! Chelsea vs. Manchester United. This should be a good game!

At Bianca's question, Bella looked over with mild interest, one eyebrow quirked upward. "I've no idea," she replied noncommittally. "Knowing mum, she scared off the owl that delivered them and then got too pissed to remember to tell us we had mail."

She got up from her comfy seat on the couch and snatched the letter addressed to her from Bianca's hand. Quickly ripping the parchment envelope open, she unfolded what appeared to be her OWL scores. Glancing quickly through them (and noticing that none of the grades surprised her in the least), she suppressed a grin and instead masked her face in a slightly forlorn frown.

"Oh... huh," she muttered. "I've... been expelled. I wonder what that means for you."

[Bianca Kendrick]

Bianca was completely speechless for once in her life. Had Bella just said what she thought she'd said? What did it mean that she had gotten a letter at the same time that Bella had gotten a letter telling her that she'd been expelled? It made sense that it would be the same letter. Right? But she had to remind herself that she didn't know for sure that they had been delivered at the same time. They could have been delivered weeks apart, and because their mother hadn't told them about their letters, they'd never know.

"You what?!" she exclaimed, practically shaking from nerves. She was afraid to open her letter now, fearing what it would tell her. Instead, she snatched the letter out of Isabella's hands and read it over.

Her face turned immediately cold.

"You. Bloody. Git."

Her anger did not, however, distract her from reading Bella's scores and giving her two cents on the results.

"You could have done better on History of Magic," she commented. "You are capable of much better than an A."

She didn't seem to have much to say about the other scores and handed the letter back. Instead of opening her own letter, however, she simply stared at it with a horrified expression on her face. How embarrassing would it be if she scored lower than Bella on any of her subjects? Even if no one else found out, she would know, and she wouldn't be able to live with that. She wouldn't be able to handle getting anything less than an O in everything, to be honest.

"I... need to sit down," she said quietly, weakly, and headed for the sofa. She plopped down with a very faint look on her face. She had gone quite pale, and was just staring fixedly at the unopened envelope.

[Rena 'Hitomi' Holmes]

"Rena, are you sure this is the right neighborhood?"

As the light blue car buzzed down the neighborhood street, two pairs of eyes were scanning to make sure that they were not somewhere they did not want to be. The smaller woman in the driver's seat was not happy with their slightly unsavory location, but the passenger was convinced; this was the place she wanted to be.

"Mum, I'm pretty sure that if there was a problem with Bianca's directions, I would have phoned and asked..."

"What if she does not know how to use the telephone?" was the response the sixth year girl received. This got a small scowl in return.

"Mum. Her mum's a Muggle. If Bianca does not know how to use a phone, it would be because her mum does not know either, not because she's a witch."

"Rena... I just worry..."

The younger (yet taller) of the two, shook her head, as she peeked at the papers in front of her. In one hand she held the map that Bianca gave, for Bianca would be the type who gave a map with incredibly detailed instructions to her, and a phone number, just in case Rena happened to get lost.

If Rena got lost, it was simply because her brain was removed from her skull. These directions were impeccable.

"Mum, it's this one up here..."

"This one!? Rena, that house looks like it's about to collapse any moment!"

"Mum, I think it's an apartment complex..."

"Even worse! How did the landlord manage to pass inspection here?!"

"Mum..."

"That's it. We're taking Bianca back to our house, and she will just have-"

"MUM! It'll be fine!"

Rebecca parked the car in front of the apartment building, albeit a little reluctantly, and Rena hopped out of the car before her mother could make anymore negative judgements. Immediately, the girl bounded up to the door, and went to ring on a little button, like she had to when she was around some of her distant relatives, and paused when she realized there was no 'advanced security system' or anything like that. Instead, she opened the door, and bounded right up to the second floor.

Rebecca might not have liked this, but, until she got her daughter back, the only thing she felt she could do was stay in the car with the doors locked, windows rolled up, and the keys down her shirt front, waiting for her daughter to return, hopefully to run in terror from the house, Bianca in tow.

Rena, on the other hand, knocked on the door to the apartment number listed on the map, and awaited a response.

[Isabella Kendrick]

Bella couldn't keep back the snickering laughs that erupted from her as soon as Bianca realized that she wasn't being expelled. She was too gullible! One would that after spending sixteen years together, she would know better than to take Bella seriously. It seemed, however, that Bianca was not quite as smart as she thought she was.

It took a few minutes for her to calm down enough to breathe again. Panting slightly, she followed her sister to the couch and plopped down right next to her, hovering purposely to make her that much more nervous.

"I can't believe it," she said. "You're actually worried, aren't you? Just open it. You got all Os, trust me."

It was then that the knock on the door came, but Bella just ignored it. If history was anything to go by, it was probably some guy their mother had picked up who had either left something in the flat or wanted another go with Eva. It wasn't worth distracting herself from Bianca's discomfort. If it got too annoying, someone else would answer it.

"Here, if you won't, I'll do it!"

She grabbed the sealed envelope from her twin's hands and immediately ripped it open. The parchment fell out and landed on her lap. Bianca tried to take it back, but Bella was to quick and was already unfolding it.

"Izzy..."

A voice came from the bottom of the staircase, and Bella looked away from the parchment momentarily to see what Xander wanted.

"There's someone at the door..."

"Go answer it," Bella replied. "I'm busy annoying Annie."

Xander stared at the two girls for a second before shrugging and making his way over to the door. He peered out the peephole and saw a girl on the other side, about his sisters' age. He opened it up and waited for her to explain what she wanted.

Meanwhile, Bella had managed to read her sister's OWL scores and her face broke into pure amusement.

"Er... yeah, you did all right, Bianca..."

[Rena 'Hitomi' Holmes]

Rena happily waited for a few moments, before the door swung open, revealing a boy that looked a bit younger than herself. Did Bianca mention that she had a younger brother? She could have sworn she payed close attention to the large number of siblings she had, along with names and ages to go along with them. They were all Muggle children too, aside from the twins of course. Blinking a few times, she expected a greeting of some sort, but, when she did not receive one, she smiled.

"I'm here to see Bianca. She might have told you I was coming... My name's Rena, Rena Holmes... unless I have the wrong apartment, but I don't think so..."

She stared at the map for another moment or so before smiling at the boy again.

"This is where Bianca lives, right?"

It was as if she were second guessing herself while at the same time almost insulting the notes her friend gave her; not that she meant it like that, of course.

"... Can I come in?"

[Bianca Kendrick]

Xander nodded and grinned as he was assured this was not some stranger who had come to kill them all or rob them or what have you. He stepped out of the doorway to let the girl enter their flat before turning to his occupied sisters.

"Annie, your friend's here... Annie?"

Bianca was, for the moment, entirely focused on her grades and hadn't even noticed that there was someone at the door. She attempted to grab her letter from her sister, but managed to tear it clean in half, leaving Bella with the grades and herself with only the course titles. Frustrated, she lunged at Isabella with murder in her eyes. This ploy wouldn't work again; she knew (or hoped, rather) that her twin was only trying to get a rise out of her, that she hadn't actually done "all right." All right was not acceptable; only excellence was tolerable where Bianca was concerned, and she had studied far too rigorously to achieve "all right."

"Give. That. Back!" she screamed, her voice hysteric for once. Even though she didn't believe her sister, there was still always that nagging voice in the back of her head that asked "what if?"

Finally managing to retrieve the other piece, she put the two halves together, her face serious. For a long moment she was tense and silent, looking only at her letter as she glanced down the right half of the ripped parchment. The Os were all that mattered, and she found one after another after another until she finally relaxed and folded the letter back up, a completely satisfied look on her face.

"Oh, Rena!" she said, mildly startled as she found her friend standing in the doorway to her apartment. "When did you get here? Guess what, I got my OWL scores! How'd you do?"

It was so like Bianca to want to talk about grades, even though Rena would have received hers close to a month ago. Damn their mother for being so irresponsible! Bianca had been waiting for these grades all holiday, and she could have been saved all the stress and worry.

"Come in, come in!" she urged, rushing over to Rena to help her with her luggage. "I apologize in advance, but you're rooming with me and Isabella. Our mother seems to take up the couch all too frequently."

[Rena 'Hitomi' Holmes]

Rena smirked lightly as she heard the sounds of what sounded to be sibling quarreling (she could not expect anything less from either Bella or Bianca) as she stepped inside. With very little idea on what they were talking about until Bianca came thundering down the stairs to greet her, Rena only managed to smile and nod, but frowned lightly as Bianca looked about ready to heft a large thing of luggage.

"Hello," she said cheerily, "... I left my stuff out in the car, didn't know if I was lookin' in the right place or not."

She smiled once more.

"We'd just have to get it from the-"

"Bianca! There you are! I was wondering where my daughter went off to."

"Mum..."

There stood Rebecca, at the top of the first floor staircase, the large trunk floating behind her and the owl cage in the woman's arms.

"What? I had to make sure you were alright, and I could not have honestly expected you to heft this up a flight of stairs, could I?"

"I did it in Hogwarts until I learned the Levitation Charm properly, Mum," the young girl grumbled, "And we're in a Muggle heavy community..."

"Is that why there are so many cars?"

Rena sighed, grabbing her trunk and pulling it into the house before any of the neighbors decided to look outside, and, thankfully, they did not.

"So, I want to meet your mother, Bianca," Rebecca continued, "And I won't take no for an answer."

Clearly she was not going to be satisfied until she felt her little baby was safe from all harm, or something that extent...

"Mum..."

"Bianca, can I talk to your mother?"

[Isabella Kendrick]

Bella's laughter died as she spotted the girl standing in the doorway. She scowled and sat back on the sofa, her arms crossed.

"You didn't tell me she was coming over..."

With her spirits significantly dampened, Bella returned her attention to the television. Chelsea had scored a goal while she hadn't been paying attention, and that only made her mood worse. Yes, she was rooting for Chelsea, but she wasn't happy when she missed things like goals or fouls or anything interesting. That was the point in watching football!

However, before too long, the opportunity for amusement presented itself once more. Bella eyed Rena's mother for a moment before shaking her head, a small smirk on her face.

"No, you can't," she replied. "No one can at the moment. Mum's zonked."

She motioned toward the blankets on the floor, which emitted a muffled grunt and a snore as it rolled over, oblivious to the company that had shown up a few moments ago. Ms. Kendrick didn't care who was there until it was for her, but she hadn't been expecting anyone on that particular day. So she slept on.

"Perhaps if you stayed for a few hours, she might wake up long enough to have a semi-intelligent conversation. But that's entirely up to you. I wouldn't take my chances. Odds are she'll sleep through the night and wake up in the morning with a bloody hangover."

[Bianca Kendrick]

Bianca ignored her sister's annoyance at the arrival of Rena. She had no control of which of Bianca's friends came to the house so she'd just have to get used to it. Not that it was a common occurrence; she usually was too ashamed of her mother to invite people over, but Rena had convinced her that it made more sense. King's Cross was, after all, a few blocks from her house. They could bloody well walk there instead of using Floo Powder.

Before she could even hope to respond to Miss Holmes's question, Isabella jumped at the opportunity to cause trouble. Bianca's face turned bright red and she started laughing nervously. Bella just had to open her mouth! She had been planning on saying their mother wasn't home at the moment, that she was out with their grandparents or something else that would keep her out of the house for the duration of the day. But Isabella had ruined those plans.

"Oh, don't listen to her, Miss Holmes," she said, briefly glaring at Bella as if saying 'I'll kill you later!' "Our mother just had a long night and is trying to catch up on her sleep right now. I'd really rather not wake her up at the moment, to be honest."

She already knew about Rebecca's stance on parenting: it was the responsibility of the parent to take care of the children, not the other way around. This household was the exact opposite of what she believed and Bianca didn't want her to turn around and take Rena home because their mother was unfit to do anything herself.

Sending Rena home had undoubtedly been Isabella's plan...

"Don't worry about Rena," she continued, her face and voice screaming sincerity and a complete lack of worry. "She'll be fed and taken care of. Mum already put a roast in the oven, before she went to sleep so dinner's taken care of. Really, there's nothing to worry about."

[Rena 'Hitomi' Holmes]

Rebecca was not convinced, but Rena stepped in front of her mother, trunk in hand, before she could be bothered to respond negatively.

"Mum, I think Bianca and I are old enough to take care of ourselves anyways," she said, "Her mother's not that incredibly bad, honestly. At least she's here. Remember the last time you tried to leave me at a house?"

"Well I could at least talk to Alice's parents."

"Through the fireplace."

"So?"

"I was twelve, Mum. You were perfectly fine leaving me with Alice and her house elf without the fear of the house burning down because we tried to make cookies or something."

"Because the house elf wouldn't let you in the kitchen without Alice telling him to."

"Mum, we're sixteen. It's only a night."

Rebecca was not convinced, and attempted to step around her daughter to get a better look at the twins' mother. Rena took the opportunity to let go of the still-floating chest, grab Akira's owl cage, and push her mother towards the door.

"Good bye Mum!"

"Rena, I just want to get a good look, make sure that's not a dog or something-"

"I'll see you for Christmas Mum!"

And without another word, Rena shoved her mother out of the apartment, and quickly shut the door. Letting out a grumbled sigh, she turned to face the twins, back against the door in case her mother burst in.

"Bella, I swear, if death wasn't illegal," she grumbled angrily, before turning towards Bianca, "OWLs were fine, to answer the question. Got an A in History of Magic, but I thought that was a great score considering I fell asleep before I could finish my name... and an E in Astronomy, but I'm surprised I managed that. Everything else was an O, of course."

Or her mother would have killed her.

"So... roast for dinner or were you just fibbing to get my mum out?"

[Bianca Kendrick]

Bianca sighed in relief as Rena's mother finally departed, albeit unwillingly, and her body relaxed. Damn Bella to oblivion for making her life so bloody difficult! It was common knowledge that she didn't get along with Rena, but she didn't have to actually take measures to get her to leave! It was highly inconsiderate.

"That was close. I thought your mother was really going to forbid you from being here," she said before the subject changed back to the exams. Bianca refrained from giving her friend a disapproving glare, even though it was quite tempting. "Yes, I was worried when I looked over and saw you drooling all over your test parchment. And I had finally gotten you to sit down and study with me! All that gone to waste just because you couldn't keep your eyes open."

It seemed that all-night study sessions did nothing to tire Bianca out, at least until after the exam was over. Then she'd pass out from the stress afterward, but the important part was that she would make it through her tests and get Os.

"Well, it was just a little lie," she replied to Rena's question. "It isn't a roast, it isn't in the oven yet, and mum had nothing to do with it. I have two pizzas ready to go in the oven, one vegetarian and one with pepperoni and sausage. I'll have them ready about five or so. Oh, and Toby's coming over for a visit tonight. He wanted to celebrate his new job."

[Rena 'Hitomi' Holmes]

Rena only gave her friend an oblivious grin before realizing that there were sports sounds coming from that television. Her immediate response was rather predictable, opting to move into the room with the aforementioned television in it, and plopping down on the nearest raised surface that looked like it could be chair-esque, and staring at the screen.

"Oh good, Chelsea's winning," she said, "Not a surprise really... but you never know with Man U..."

She did not even realize who was watching it, or else she would have hissed like a cat and ran in the other direction.

It did not take very long, however, before her attentions were returned to Bianca. Nothing incredibly exciting was happening now (some Man U player was being incredibly dramatic about some form of minor knee injury, as expected), and she smiled.

"Toby's coming? And... wait... what?"

It was absolutely no secret to anyone but maybe Bianca that Rena had a small thing for the girls' older brother. He was good looking, and a writer, unlike Bianca's other older brothers. They just scared her.

But pizzas with meat usually never went with brothers unless something was up.

Her smile faded at the sudden thoughts in her head.

"I don't know what it is Bianca, but if it has to do with the rights of any sort of creature, I don't want any part," she said, "I would much rather keep out of the Forbidden Forest this year, thank you."