Congratulations Captain

Kayla patiently finished her Divination homework as she waited for Greg. Or at least, that was how she appeared on the outside. She was getting antsy waiting to congratulate her friend. Was he more than a friend? She didn't know. She would worry about that later.

She stretched her lanky arms and legs out on the cozy couch. Finally, she had it all to herself. Sometimes Isobel was there and they would sit in stifling awkward silence while pretending to scribble away at homework, or one of them would muster some casual small talk. Usually that meant complaints about teachers or innocent rumors. Gossip was preferable to her current situation, which was waiting in agonizing loneliness. Other times, several older prefects milled around and Kayla would try her best not to annoy them. Now there was no reason to be scared. She was a prefect too now. She was a prefect and a captain. Kayla tried not to let that get over her head. She never had much respect for uptight elitist prefects. All the titles meant was that she was a nerd jock. Fabulous.

But she had undeniably experienced a status boost. Over the summer, she had received several invitations to come over. She attracted more glances when she walked. The number of people she sat with at lunch grew. It was...a nice feeling, to be liked. Yet she knew what it was like to be ignored or picked on for her love of music.

Kayla shook herself out of her daydreams and finished her homework quickly. She couldn't help but be skeptical of what she was writing, but she'd seen firsthand proof and that was enough for her. She was just about to leave-perhaps Greg had forgotten about her invite-when the door swung open. Kayla quickly ran her fingers through her long hair before standing up to greet him. "Hey, Captain Greg. Isn't this place neat?" She threw her arms around him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Hopefully he wouldn't read too much into it. She was just so glad to see him after all summer. "How was your summer?"

Greg was anxious about this school year. Sixth year was almost seventh year. He was almost finished with school, but he wasn't. The magic he had to practice was hard, but it wasn't the most difficult there was. Greg was convinced that the only good thing about this school year was that Julie-Pierre passed on captainship and let him have it instead. He felt bad that he felt that way, but what could he say? Having an extra badge on your robes was pretty cool in his opinion.

He knew he was late, and it unfortunately couldn't be helped. He walked into the Prefect Lounge and was greeted by his friend. "Well, hello, Ms. Prefect," he replied, hugging her back. He was surprised by the kiss, but wasn't going to make a scene about it. "You haven't been in here before?" he asked, pulling away. "Captains are allowed in, you know."

Greg laughed. "Summer was... interesting. Julie-Pierre and Autumn were really couple-y. And Jonas and Parker were little monsters, basically. I hid in my room, a lot. What about you? How is the Miller clan? When is the wedding?"

Kayla laughed, glad he didn't make the kiss awkward. "Ms. Prefect? That makes me sound so adult and boring." She embraced the hug briefly. She missed Greg in ways words couldn't express sufficiently. "I've hung out here before, but not much. Usually when Isobel's around. For some reason she seems more approachable than the older prefects. Except you of course."

She sat back on her couch, making room for Greg. Finally she could truly relax. Kayla propped up her feet on the coffee table-of course she would wipe it clean afterwards. "I climbed a tree with Jonas once. He's so sweet." She smiled fondly at the thought of Greg's playful little brother. "We're doing well. I haven't heard from my cousins in a while, I think they've gone off somewhere. And how did you know?" Kayla mock-gasped. "Cameron and Isobel threw a huge summer wedding. No, in all seriousness, they were rather annoying. Couples, am I right?" She shook her head. "Caleb and Marie-Laure are getting married soon, and I'm happy for them. Now I'm the single one in the Miller clan along with Mabel. We could form a club." A laugh tugged at her lips. "A lonely cat lady club. Although Mabel had two boyfriends during school to compensate."

An idea formed in Kayla's head and she mulled over it for a bit before blurting out, "Do you want to go get lunch in Cheval sometime? In the Little Horse Diner?" Whether that constituted a date or not was up to him. She tugged at her hair slightly but didn't stray her gaze from Greg's face.

"I don't think you're a boring adult. Autumn is the boring adult. She and Julie-Pierre are practically already married with a baby. They have a house together already, did you know that?" Greg wasn't really happy about his cousin getting married, especially so young. But it least it was to Julie-Pierre. He wasn't dumb. And Greg was pretty sure Autumn was an old-fashioned girl. And if she wasn't, then... he didn't want to know.

He sat down on the couch next to his friend. "I know. I watched you guys. I was tempted to join you, but I told Jonas I'd leave you two alone." And he was just jealous that Jonas got more time to be alone with Kayla than he did. But he knew that Jonas wasn't going to give him any competition. Greg knew his younger brother had a thing for Parker. Whether Jonas or Parker knew he did or not.

"I can imagine that wedding," Greg said smiling. He could see Isobel in some crazy elaborate, designer wedding dress. And he could see his best friend crying as she walked down the aisle. Greg didn't see it as a bad thing, though. Isobel had really toned down on the bitchy annoyingness. Cameron had that affect on everyone.

"Doesn't Mabel have the baby, though? She's not completely on her own. And neither are you. You have tons of admirers. You're like, the whole package," Greg said, before he realized he put his foot in his mouth. He dug himself hole and there wasn't any getting out. "I mean, to a lot of people, you are."

Greg was grateful for his kind-of out. "Yeah. We can go whenever you want. Jonas can go this year too, remember?"

He was glad that Kayla and Jonas were friends. No one could think about what a screw-up Greg was if Jonas was mentioned..

"I didn't know they had a house together. That's cool. So they're getting married? Send them my congratulations," Kayla smiled. Personally, she didn't want to get married so soon out of school. But what did she know? She wasn't in a relationship. "They're cute together."

"You should join in with us more often. He's a great kid, but we only have so much to talk about since we're years apart." She was amazed how much fun they had together, despite their differences. Their shared sense of fun pulled them a long way. Hopefully they could pass it on to Greg too.

"I dread it," shrugged Kayla. "I don't want to imagine Cameron married to anyone. Not Isobel, not anyone." She knew it was a possibility. It might even happen in the not-so-distant future. She'd never pegged Isobel as the type to settle down, but if she could, props to her. Sometimes she couldn't help but imagine what Cameron and Isobel would look like together in the future. Where Cameron would care about Isobel more than her, maybe even forget about Kayla entirely. Kayla shook her head. That was illogical. Who forgot about their sisters?

"That's true. She does. I haven't seen much of him. I admire her for raising him on her own." Kayla couldn't stop the blush rising in her cheeks when the reality of Greg's words settled in. "I haven't gotten any love letters. Thanks, though." She let out a little awkward laugh. Did he see her that way too? "They only see my strengths. I'm really stubborn and I'm not very...well.. romantic. I don't think guys like that."

"I was thinking just us this Friday." Thank goodness she only blushed a little. She didn't want this to become incredibly awkward. "Jonas can come along too some other time."

"I will. Or you can tell her yourself. She's been around. He's been around. Err.. I mean, they still go to school here, you know," Greg replied. He felt himself getting awkward, but he couldn't stop.

"Ha! Jonas tells me when he wants to hang out. Parker has really brought that boy out of his shell. Jonas is sassy," Greg explained. "I don't get invited anywhere."

"I know that Cameron wants to be married. So I have no issue with it. And besides. Isobel treats him really well. I get jealous of him quite often..." Greg added. The stories he got told sounded pretty sweet. Greg sometimes wished he had Cameron's luck.

"So? Everyone is a work in progress. You aren't as bad as you think you are. At least I don't think so," he tried to reassure. Hopefully that didn't sound too much like he was hitting on her. But maybe it was time to actually tell her how he felt?

Greg was surprised. "Oh! Okay. Sure. We can go together."

Maybe she felt the same way?

"I'll tell her, then. I haven't seen her in a while." When had she last talked to Autumn? Quite a while apparently, because she could hardly remember it. "When's the wedding? Are you going to be best man?" she semi-joked. She could imagine it. Serious, mature Greg in a formal suit.

Kayla laughed. "I love his sass." She didn't want to talk too much about Jonas to his brother, that was kind of awkward. Greg and Jonas clearly cared for each other, however their relationship was very different from the one between her and Jonas and the one between her and Greg. Whatever that was.

"I don't think people should be planning to get married at this age," Kayla shook her head. "I don't see the appeal of planning to be with someone the rest of your life when you're sixteen years old." She really couldn't fathom it. She didn't so much have a problem with Isobel anymore; she was nice to Cameron and made him happy. But she hoped when the time came, Cameron would clearly think through marrying Isobel.

Kayla nodded, listening to Greg. "I don't think I'm bad. I think people overlook my flaws...which is both good and bad." She wished she could spill to Greg about the pressure of maintaining outward perfection. Unfortunately, she was quite sure it would make her sound like a blubbering idiot.

"It's a date, then." The words came out of her mouth before she thought them through. "I mean, as in 'it's a deal'." She felt the familiar tugging of her "woman's intuition." Did Greg like her? Did she like Greg? "So does after dinner work for you?"