𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞.
.   .   .   .

𝙏o her eyes, the sight was somewhat foreign. Elena stood in front of the mirror, Brianna on her bed, reading the Witch Weekly and Jake was outside her bedroom door. Elena let her eyes travel each and every one of her very ugly scars, recalling how she got them and a shiver ran down her spine. Elena turned to Brianna, silently questioning herself whether she was doing the right thing or not and she frowned. I have to do this, Elena reminded herself, her frown still etched upon her face and she let out a sigh. That caught Brianna's attention and the brunette looked up from her magazine, mind still slightly dazed from seeing Gilderoy's old photograph.

"No one is forcing you to do this El." Brianna reminded her friend, who still was frowning.

"I know Bri, but I can't live with secrets anymore." She shook her head, sighing again. "I invited Cedric too."

Brianna's body stiffened. Cedric Diggory, the boy she hated, was still alive. ❨ Gosh darn it! ❩ She didn't want him to die, but she didn't want him alive near her, so maybe she did want him dead. It was complicated. "Did you have to invite that nitpick?"

"He's our friend."

"Your friend Elena, not mine." Brianna pointed out, going back to her magazine and a smile spread across her face when her eyes landed on a smiling Gilderoy Lockhart. "I told you, Cedric and I will never get along, especially with what happened last year."

"It was a mistake Bri! Theo makes mistakes all the time and I'm willing to look over them because I love him."

Brianna looked up from her magazine once more. "And does he love you too? Or does he just say that to  please you?"

"Bri, please." Elena sighed, putting on her bathrobe and she made her way to the door, taking in a deep breath. She needs to do this. Jake has to know, it's been long enough. They've been friends for over two years now and every time Elena's scars would hurt, Jake would look at her suspiciously and everytime she wants to scream out that her aunt ❨ who was in Azkaban again, can they like stop putting her in there? She'll escape again anyway ❩ was a sick woman and that she nearly killed her. But she can't, because it's not easy, at all.

"Don't Bri, please me." Brianna rolled her eyes, going back to her magazine and left Elena to open the door and Jake Hornby stumbled in, blushing when he saw Brianna in only her bra. ❨ As they were to swim after this, and she was already in her bathing attire. ❩

"Jake, I have something to show you. Please don't freak out." Elena softly whispered, fingers already loosing the knot she tied and Jake's eyes went wide.

"Elena! What ━"

"Shut up and let the girl strip for you Jake." Brianna hissed at him, causing both Elena and Jake to blush.

"I'm not stripping for Jake!" Elena cried out, shaking her head and dark curls slapped Jake in the face.

"This looks like a personal strip show to me, with Cedric coming and all." Brianna shrugged, tossing her magazine to the other side. "Come on, I'll join you." She winked at Elena, who glared at her friend and Jake blushed, silently hoping that Brianna won't actually strip for them. His hopes went down the drain when Brianna unbuttoned the silver button on her white shorts and Jake's eyes went wide and he immediately turned around, face red. "You can turn around Jake, it's not about me anyway." Brianna told the boy, who swallowed hard and did as he was told, his eyes going everywhere but Brianna's perfectly tanned body. "Come on El."

Elena gulped. Why, oh why, did her deranged aunt have to torture her? Why did her mum treat her aunt like trash when they were younger? Why did this all happen to her? I need to do this. "Please, don't ━ um ━ freak out." And her yellow silk bathrobe fell, and she automatically wrapped her arms around herself until Brianna nudged her slightly on the her shoulder and Elena hesitantly removed her arms from her body and she looked down, ready to hear Jake's scream.

"Do they cover your entire body?" James asked, his eyes slightly shinning from awe and Brianna smiled to herself. ❨ She won't ever admit it, but she's glad she terrorized Jake the first time they met, she would've never gotten to meet such an amazing friend. ❩

"Um ━ yeah." Elena nodded, still looking down and a grin spread across Jake's face.

"Wicked." He declared and Elena's head snapped up.

"I'm sorry? Wicked?" She echoed, not believing her ears. Why wasn't he running away by now? Why wasn't he screaming? ❨ Her aunt had told her that no one, not even her mother or father, would ever like her again after she's through with her. And for a twelve year old, Elena believed her. ❩ "Aren't you disgusted by me?"

Jake laughed. "Are you kidding me? All I have are tiny scabs that fade away! Your scars are so wicked!"

Elena's throat swelled up and she swallowed, realizing that she wanted to cry and hug Jake. Besides her parents, Brianna and Viktor the unicorn, no one's ever seen her scars and the few who did, never spoke to her again. She was glad Jake thought her scars were cool, maybe Theodore and Harry would think so too, after all, Theodore is her boyfriend and Harry is one of her friends now.

"Thanks Jake. It means a lot."

.   .   .   .

𝙏he day was spent at the beach, the four friends swimming in the ocean and building sand castles, drinking coconut water and eating cucumbers. In the last hours of the day, where the sun was still high up, they had a little Quidditch match, Brianna and Jake against Cedric and Elena, who felt like herself in her skin, for the very first time in a very long while. She felt free to wear what she wanted around all her friends now ❨ perhaps except Vega, Pansy, Blaise, Draco, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Luna ❩ and feel good about it.

Elena was laughing at something Cedric had said when the Quaffle, thrown by Jake, hit her in the face and she went spiraling down, everyone diving after her. When they landed, they found Elena laughing and they shook their heads, Brianna muttering that she should have broken her nose and when Cedric glared at her, she corrected herself by saying she should've broken Jake's nose and made a point of hitting the boy behind the head.

"You know, you could just stop hitting me." Jake mumbled to Brianna when they gathered their things, ready to Apparate back to the Eve Mansion with Cedric, who passed his Apparating test earlier in the year.

"Then I'd have nothing left to do." Brianna whined, not believing that Jake actually suggested that. "Do you want me to be bored Jakey?"

And there it was. The nickname Brianna gave him last year when she was drunk from the spiked punch on Christmas Eve during the Yule Ball. Jake wished she would've forgotten because Merlin, he loved it, he'd pay for her to say it over and over again for the rest of his life but he didn't want her to see that it made him blush and all giddy inside, which is why he was glad he chose that exact moment to wipe away the sand stuck on his face.

"I mean no ━ but you're very rough Brianna." Jake told the girl in a soft tone and in front of them, Elena snorted.

"Now you don't hear that much often from a guy she hasn't fucked." Jake turned red and he swallowed hard. Why did he choose to have a crush on Brianna? Why didn't his feelings choose Elena? She's pretty, she's kind, she's got cool scars, and she's with Theodore, maybe that's why.

"Hey! I am a virgin, thank you very much." Brianna scoffed and Jake silently admired her. She could sneeze and he'd still think it's the most magical thing he's ever heard. "Just like Cedric is!"

Cedric choked on his cucumber. "What?" He coughed, slamming his fist against his chest and Elena sighed, shaking her head at him and she rubbed his back before slamming her fist down right in the middle. The cucumber flew out and Cedric grimaced, his face red.

"I said you're a virgin, or did you pay someone to shag you? I reckon no one will want to shag you."

"I didn't pay someone to sleep with me!" Cedric cried out, face still red. "Besides, I ━ um ━ not a virgin, not that it's your business anyway!"

"Was it Chang?" Elena asked. She didn't hate a lot of people but Cho wasn't on her like list or dislike list either, she was somewhere in between and Elena didn't know how to treat the girl.

Cedric burned a red. "Like I said, none of your business. You guys are fourteen and twelve."

"We're fifteen ━"

"And I'm the one who's fourteen."

"Can we just go now? I'm hungry and someone made me choke on my cucumber." Cedric grabbed Jake's hand, and Elena's.

"That won't be the only thing you'll be choking on today Pretty Boy." Brianna winked at Cedric, who burned a red.

"Brianna!" Elena cried out, mortified her friend said that but the brunette only grinned and laced her fingers with hers.