"Jesus, I am ooooooooverjoyed!"

"OH MY GOD STOP IT!" Giada shrieked, toppling into the door of her and Savannah's flat. Her date for the evening, Graeme Dorny, continued reciting the first verse of the most ridiculous song she'd ever heard. From the most ridiculous West End show she'd ever seen! Of course, it was the only West End show she'd ever seen, but still!

Giada slammed her hand to her mouth to try and quiet herself, but as her eyes bounced along with Graeme's not-so-accurate-and-half-assed attempt to mimic the scene, she only found herself laughing more. Oh, geez, it had been a really good idea inviting this guy out tonight! She'd never laughed as hard as she had in the past twenty minutes it took to walk home (because it would have been too easy to splinch in their hysterics), and it felt---good!

She didn't know whether or not to call it a 'date' date, really, now that they were at her doorstep. There was really nothing else to call it, right? Giada wasn't really friends with Graeme, she remembered him from school and all that (and apparently his ex-girlfriend had a baby with Savannah's ex-boyfriend? Soooo complicated) but not much since then. You can just 'go out' with a friend, you have to go on a 'date' with someone you really didn't know.

At least, that's how she figured it.

"I deem this date a success!" she was finally able to let out, leaning comfortably against the door now. Giada grinned at Graeme, her hair blowing slightly in the winter breeze. Breathing a bit heavy from his impromptu choreography, a smile slid onto Graeme's face.

"I wasn't sure if it was a date," he admitted, and Giada felt herself blush. She shrugged and scuffed her feet, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Well---if you don't want it to be, then that's--okay, but..." Giada smiled weakly back up at Graeme. He let out a soft laugh and stepped forward, his hands going to her elbows gently.

"I want it to be," he said with a grin, "I had a great night, even if I was blinded by glitter and thrusting---men in stretchy pants." Giada laughed again and nodded, feeling her heart thud madly as they both pushed forward at the same time. Graeme kissed her (or did she kiss him?) softly, and now Giada was pretty sure she'd never get those silly songs out of her head.

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Giada's hand shot to her cheek; Rachel had smacked her!

"You smacked me!" she shrieked, unable to move from her spot. She--Rachel had--her best friend had just up and smacked her, rather hard, across the cheek! And she didn't seem phased at all. Giada's mouth dropped even lower at the thought of the lack of remorse. As she continued to sputter, Rachel simply rolled her eyes and reached out, tugging Giada's hand away from her face.

"You were about to hyperventilate!" she said smoothly, examining the red and swelling skin. Giada frowned and pulled away, dropping down to the bed behind her. "What was I supposed to do, let you suffocate on my bedroom floor?"

"There's no need for violence," she sniffed, though she had to admit, her heart didn't nearly feel like it was going to shoot out of her chest and bounce out of the room to its misery. She looked down at the imaginary path the organ would've taken and felt her eyes well up once more.

Now she was miserable and her face hurt!

"Well, I couldn't understand a word you were saying!" Rachel let out, sitting at the vanity. Her hands went up in a confused manner, "Usually I would just let you ramble on, but this time I was scared for your health! What happened, G?"

Giada sniffled some more, wiping at the fresh tears that were beginning to fall. She'd come straight to Rachel's house, not thinking of anyone else to run to when it felt like her entire universe was crumpling, "Emm---Emmet and I---we broke up!"

"Again?"

"Not---!" Giada shot Rachel a dirty look, turning away quickly, "Not again, this time is---it's for real."

"That's what you said last time, dear," Rachel said with a slightly bit more sympathetic stare, but not much. "I'm sure you'll make up within the week like last time, and then set off happily to some Beet's music--"

"Beatles, it's the Beatles, Rachel, and it is for real," Giada moaned, flopping back onto the bed, "He has a kid!"

"He has a kid?"

"A baby from this two bit whore he met at a New Year's party!"

Giada was wailing now, and almost missed Rachel leap from her seat at the vanity and onto the bed, grabbing her in a sideways hug against the mattress. She should have probably mentioned the baby earlier, Rachel was definitely aware of how earth shattering one of those little beings could be. Giada immediately clung to her and continued to wail as Rachel began to quickly mutter soothing words and curses toward Emmet and his private bits; finally!

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Giada straightened her back out with a prim expression, eyes casting a sharp glare across the room at a gaggle of girls. This was her seventeenth birthday party, there was really no need for any of them to be trying to attract any sort of attention. Even if there were some rather handsome boys that had just arrived from Italy.

To see her.

"She should really stop laughing, with such horse-like teeth protruding from her mouth," Giada let out quickly, much to the amusement of her best friend. Amusement or pride, she couldn't tell, but it was rather easy to let the sharp and...not nice tone of Rachel Englewood rub off on you.

"They're jealous slags, is what they are," Rachel snipped, pulling the curls at the end of her hair gently, letting them rest on her shoulder. Rachel was at her best when there was an audience and actual--targets, "Giggling like morons as if it was going to hide the fact that they're hideous."

"Slytherins, too," Giada replied, letting out a short breath from her nose, "You would think they would have more sense." The party was boring and obnoxiously upper crust, like all the parties Giada's mother threw, but today had caught Giada in a particular mood. Most of the time she would simply slip off into her bedroom and away, to talk to Rachel or listen to music, but--being seventeen meant something in the wizarding world, and as much as Giada really didn't enjoy her parents' social circles, she--

--well. Maybe the idea of finding a husband wasn't too terrible, and it annoyed her to no end that those girls were actually attempting to steal the spotlight from her. She wouldn't admit it, but she was especially anxious about this...getting engaged idea, as it was just announced that Mackenzie Loftus and---Caradoc would be married. Now, Giada hadn't fancied Caradoc in years, but--but there was a boiling anger just ready to burst out of her every time someone mentioned it (always that stupid Rowle, girl). She was just as pretty and nice as Mackenzie, so why--wasn't she the one getting talked about and---

This was so bloody stupid. Giada knew that when the party was over and her birthday had passed, she would have no desire for a diamond ring on her finger. She knew this, and even though she knew this, she continued to quickly slam and reduce the other girls in attendance to their most unflattering features.

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"If she's your girlfriend, why don't you kiss her!"

Giada's eyes widened to the size of the plate sitting in front of her as she watched the other Slytherin boys tease Caradoc. She'd known it was a bad idea to sit over here, Rachel had told her not to, but! But. Caradoc was her boyfriend, and he had been for a very, very long time (for as long as she could remember, really!) so of course she should sit with him!

Of course, he hadn't actually asked her to, more like dragged her over before she could figure out what was going on.

She couldn't understand why they were being so nosy. What did it matter if they were boyfriend and girlfriend, hm? It's not like any of them could say they had a girlfriend, they were all just jealous. That was it. They were jealous, and that's why they were being dumb. The thought made her shoulders straighten and Giada's face took on the snooty look that reminded her of her mother.

"We don't kiss because people tell us to," Caradoc said in a tone that stated that this fact should be obvious. Giada nodded, her hands resting on her lap. She only knew Evan and Orpheus, of the other Slytherin boys, and she hadn't bothered to find out the other boy's because if he was going to partake in the teasing, than she didn't need to find out.

"I don't believe it," Orpheus said slowly, leaning forward with a smirk.

The Slytherin girls were a little further down, and they were giggling madly behind their hands. Giada shot them a look, feeling her cheeks blush as she wondered what they were talking about. It really wasn't fair, why did everyone care? They hadn't acted like this before they came to Hogwarts! And now it was all any of the first years could talk about! There wasn't a big deal, just because they hadn't ever kissed didn't mean anything! They just didn't feel the need, and anyway, kissing was kind of gross anyway, there was spit involved, Ally had said and that was not something she needed and---

---quite suddenly Caradoc's face was squished against hers, and Giada had no idea what was going on.

Was this kissing? His lips were pressed rather hard against hers, and his eyes were shut really tight, so--Giada closed her eyes too and pushed back and hm. What was the big deal about this? Except the hooting and hollering from across the table, she could not figure out why everyone was so obsessed with kissing.

"Ahem."

The two first years jumped apart as the sixth year Slytherin prefect came up behind them, Mackenzie's brother, oy, oh this was so embarrassing and----

"See, I told you we kissed," Caradoc let out loudly, ignoring the flick to the back of his head from the prefect. Giada let out a breath. Well. It looked like they were going to have to practice.

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Giada couldn't remember when she agreed to this, but all of her roommates had taken it upon themselves to swear to the Gods above that she was going to fulfill this promise, of sorts. Supposedly she had proclaimed this idea over the summer at some party, but with the mayhem of their seventh year, Giada could not recall her saying those exact words to one specific Hufflepuff male.

'I'll snog you in a broomcloset on the last day of school, if we're both single!' certainly did not sound like something Giada would say, let alone to Derek Dobbs!

Maybe he wouldn't show, maybe he didn't remember! Yes, that would be good. Because then, she could tell her roommates that it was Derek who flaked out on everything, and that she was going to do it, but he simply hadn't---

"Oy, so The Virgin appears before us!"

Giada whipped around in the dark corridor (having Audrey as Head Girl did help with knowing what walkways would be empty) at the voice and flushed deeply as Derek approached. Oh hell! He was going to snog her now, wasn't he! She wasn't ready to snog Derek Dobbs! You needed---lots of practice to snog Derek! All she'd ever kissed was stupid Caradoc in first year, despite insinuating otherwise during Ravenclaw sleepovers (though her roommates were smart and nice enough to not actually believe her and still giggle about it anyway). She forced a grin and nervously ran her hand through her hair.

"I...didn't think you'd show," she said. Derek shrugged and leaned his shoulder against the wall beside her.

"I'm not one to break my promises."

Oh, Merlin's beard, he was going to take her virginity tonight, Giada thought with an explosion of her heart. She felt her face redden and heat up even more and pressed her hands against the stone of the wall.

"That's--good," she gulped, rolling her shoulders in anticipation. It was not as if Derek was someone she did not want to snog, no. Derek was the most handsome boy she'd ever seen (and she had seen Paul McCartney live), and to kiss him would probably feel amazingly good and make her want to do things that caused her to choke on her breath and---her knees would wobble, it would just be bad. If she examined the situation, she would not have shown up if she did not want to snog Derek, it was just getting the deed done that was proving difficult.

"Well..." she said, squirming under his gaze. Derek continued to watch her for a few more heavy seconds, and then, in the darkness, his laughter bounced off the walls. Giada's eyes widened in surprise (and horror?) at his giggles, and watched him nearly double over himself. Well! "Well!"

"I'm---I'm sorry----" Derek managed, waving a hand frantically, his face still split with a grin. Giada felt the heat of her face turn into an angry flash, and she covered her mouth with her hands. He thought it was ridiculously funny that she actually thought he was going to snog her! How---oooh, she should hit him or---Giada's anger never resulted in much, so her usual reaction of tears struck immediately and she swiped furiously at her face. She knew this had been a stupid idea!

"Just go back to bed, Derek!" Giada shot back at him, turning away to storm off back to Ravenclaw Tower. But then her roommates would see how distraught she was, and then she would have to explain, and then--

"Wait, Gia!" Derek had latched onto her wrist, and Giada, with all of her strength (which was not MUCH!) swung her free arm around and smacked him straight in the side of the head, "Holy shit!"

"YOU'RE SUCH AN ASS, DEREK!" she shrieked, not caring if her voice was caught by Mrs. Norris' ears. Giada whacked him again, this time on the neck, and continued to pound him, "Why'd you even come!"

"I wanted to see if you'd--stop hitting me!" Derek finally managed to get ahold of Giada's wrists, and he tugged her hands down between the two of them. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now, and she could see that he was still grinning that stupid grin. "I can't believe you thought I was going to make you snog me, Giada!"

"Well I thought you wanted to---make--me?" Her lips pouted in her confusion. "I didn't think you were gonna...make me." That sounded so bad!

"That's what the promise was all about, yeah? Owing me a snog?"

Giada hadn't thought about it like that (lies! Of course she had!) and let out a breath. "I guess it was stupid."

"Only stupid if you don't want to snog me."

"But I do!" she admitted far too quickly. Giada watched The Grin sneak back onto Derek's face and before she could retract her statement he'd kissed her.

Ooh. Kissing Derek Dobbs was nothing like she'd expected---it was better.

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