Skipping Rocks

McKenna was getting antsy being cooped up in her dorm room and Cori was definitely getting annoyed her cracking knuckles and general other annoying habits of hers. Her twin suggested going outside for a walk and McKenna always listened to what she said, so there she was by the lake. First she walked around the grounds and she hadn't done much exploring by the lake and she ended up there.

She was skipping rocks, well more like sinking them. Eventually she got fed up with it and flopped to the ground on her bum. Stupid rocks. McKenna never did learn how to skip them properly. Sighing softly, she noticed a first year walking by and McKenna being herself; shouted, "Hello!" She got up and headed over to him. "Do you know how to skip rocks?"

Jude was still in a daze. He wanted to see everything the castle had to offer. He had heard rumors about a mermaid in Silver Lake so he wanted to check it out for himself. So he decided to go down to the lake to check out this mermaid for himself. He made his way down the path towards the lake. He hadn't expected anyone to be there yet she called to him like she knew who he was.

He shrugged and looked out towards the lake. "Aren't you scared that you'll hit the mermaid?" If she hit the mermaid with a rock then she'd hurt it. "You have to be careful or you'll hurt the mermaid."

McKenna felt bad that she had just shouted at the boy, but oh well. She’d get to introducing herself eventually. “Mermaid?” She hadn’t heard anything about the mermaid. “There’s a mermaid in the lake?” She asked excitedly. McKenna was never going to skip rocks here ever again. “Mermaids really exist?” She honestly shouldn’t be surprised over this anymore being a witch and all. But the littlest things excited her. McKenna fired off question after question. “Does she have a name? Wait, is it a she? Or is it a he? Do mermaids talk? Do they speak English? Or French? Or do they have their own language?”

"You didn't know about the mermaid?" She didn't look much older than him so he didn't blame her for not knowing. He only knew because he had heard some older students talking about it. "I think her name is Jasmine." He longed to see her, he bet she was beautiful. Weren't mermaids supoosed to be beautiful? "I'm not sure what language she speaks. I came down here in hopes that she would be around."

He didn't see her though, so maybe she was hiding. Maybe she was too scared to come out. "Oh, I'm Jude by the way," he said in his thick Irish accent. "Jude Ross."

“No, I don’t.” McKenna shook her head. “Is the mermaid new? Or has she been around for a while?” She mused aloud. She wasn’t sure if the boy even knew the answer to those two questions. If the mermaid was anything like the ones she had read about in fairytales then she reckoned the mermaid was beautiful.

McKenna nodded and looked out to the lake. “I probably scared her off. Sorry about that.” Now she was intrigued about the mermaid and wanted to see her. She smiled at his accent. “An Irishman, eh?” She giggled softly. “Nice to meet ya. I’m McKenna, McKenna Arnett.” Her accent a bit prominent as she said her name.

He wasn't sure how to answer her questions since he didn't know the exact answer to them. He had just heard about her not too long ago and he wanted to ask her some questions. He had never met a mermaid before and he really wanted to. "We should come back some time and meet her." They would have to be extra quiet in order to meet her though.

"Its okay," he shrugged. He dodnt mind that she had scared the mermaid off. He nodded amd grinned. "I'm proud of my Irish roots." He held his hand for the girl to shake. "Nice to meet you McKenna."

She noticed his confused look and quickly stopped rattling off her questions. He clearly didn’t know the answer to them. “Sorry.” She said softly. McKenna wanted to meet the mermaid too. Her eyes brightened at his idea and she nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.” She smiled. “When should we come back?”

She nodded. Now she wondered if she had accidentally hurt the mermaid and now she won’t be back and oh gosh that would be horrible. "It's good to be proud of your roots." McKenna smiled and nodded, shaking his hand gently. “It’s nice to meet you too, Jude. You’re a first year, yeah?”

Was this the beginning of a friendship? If it was, Jude thought he was doing pretty well. He was being plenty friendly and he thought he was charming. "Maybe we can come back tomorrow? Does that sound good to you?" Without having any friends, the boy's schedule was pretty open. Well, he had met a few people but he hadn't seen much of them since school began. Besides Daniel, since he was Jude's roommate.

"I couldn't agree more," he grinned. "You gotta own up to where you come from, even if you don't like that place." He loved Ireland, it was his home. But he was aure that there were others out there who didn't like where they lived. "Is it obvious?" He let out a small chuckle but nodded anyways. "Yeah, I'm a first year."

McKenna grinned and nodded excitedly. “Tomorrow sounds perfect!” She said enthusiastically. She was excited to have made a new friend. Yeah, she had her two sisters, Hayden (sort of?), and Indigo. But Indigo and Cori usually spent more time together and Melanie and Hayden were literally always together. So, she was happy to have made a new friend.

“Exactly.” She giggled and smiled back at him. “Where in Ireland are you from?” McKenna asked curiously. She shook her head when he asked if it was obvious and laughed softly. “No, not obvious. I just don’t remember seeing you around last year and I’m pretty good with remembering faces.”

Jude was glad that she had agreed to meet him again tomorrow. This just had to be the beginning of a friendship. He grinned up at the girl, she was a bit taller than him. Probably because she was older. "Maybe we should bring herself something. I wonder what mermaids eat." They could always sneak something out of the kitchens.

"Mullingar," he answered proudly. There was no better place in his book. He loved his hometown and he loved the people around him. "Well, I'm glad I don't look like a first year. People like to make sure you know where you're going or they make fun of you for being so young." He didn't understand why people made fun of first years, they were once first years themselves.

McKenna giggled and smiled back at him, tossing her hair over her shoulder. It always got in the way. “Ooh~ That’s a great idea.” She nodded and tapped her chin. “I wonder what she would like? Would she eat fish? Or is that cannibalism…?” She mused aloud.

“Mullingar? My family visited Ireland once, but we went to Dublin.” She chatted on. “What’s it like there?” McKenna asked curiously. She figured he wouldn’t mind the question because he seemed so proud about it and all. “I totally agree with you. It’s unkind to make fun the first years this is all new to them, especially if they’re muggleborn and really have no idea what they’re doing.” She said quietly. She was definitely like a lost chicken at first, luckily she had her siblings to help her.

How were they supposed to know what mermaids ate? "We could always ask a professor," he shrugged. But there was a chance that the professor would begin to ask questions and then they'd never be able to get food from the kitchen. "The library!" He blurted out. The library was a great place to find information. "I bet there's books about mermaids."

"Well, its Irish and I'm from there, so Mullingar is awesome." He grinned. "Wouldn't you like to see that for yourself? I can't tell you or you won't be surprised if you ever visit." He then got a great idea. "You could always visit my home, over the summer. How does that sound?" He hoped he wasn't going too fast in their friendship. They had just met today after all. "Well, that sounds a bit weird. I mean, we just met and all." He nodded in agreement. "Its not nice."

They weren’t, McKenna just assumes these things. “That is true, I’m sure the Care of Magical Creatures professor knows.” She nodded, but she had no clue where to find that professor. Well, she sort of did, but that class wasn’t offered until third year. “What?” She looked at him. “Oh, yeah! The library will definitely have several books on mermaids. Should we go there?”

McKenna giggled and shook her head at his explanation. “I believe you and yes, I supposed you’re right; I would want to see it for my self.” She nodded, she smiled at his offer. Maybe it was moving too fast into the friendship but oh well. “Yeah, sure I’d like to come visit you.” She smiled and chuckled softly. “Well, by the time I come visit you, we won’t be strangers any more.” She nodded.

He had never been excited to go to the library yet at this very moment he was. He was never one to fancy reading but learning things about mermaids had the boy interested. "We can go right now. That way we know what we're doing and what to get her to eat." Then the next day they'd come back and feed the mermaid and talk to her. He was so excited.

"I can't ruin it for you if you can see it for yourself," he grinned. He nodded at her agreement. "I guess we'll have to get to know each other a lot then you can come over to my house for some of the summer." It sounded perfect to the small boy.

McKenna wasn’t one to get excited over books or really the library either. That was Cori’s thing. But she was really excited to learn about mermaids with her new friend. Jude didn’t have much of an option at this point, McKenna enlisted him as a friend. “Yeah that sounds perfect!” She grinned and took the boy’s hand, heading back up to the castle.

“Oh, of course. I’d hate to have spoilers.” She giggled softly, teasing him slightly. “Indeed we will.” She nodded. McKenna was happy to have made a new friend. She would have to agree, it sounded perfect. “Oh! Why don’t we start getting to know each other on our way up to the castle?” She offered smiling brightly. Of course, she didn’t let him answer that question. “When’s your birthday?” She hated to ask something so simple, but sometimes the simple questions gave one the most knowledge about someone new.