Revelling In Her Plans (Victoria)

The urge to celebrate had been building in her, and Janique knew that she needed to get the excitement out of her system before she did something stupid. Normally, she would have gone to the Owlery and have a one-sided chat with whichever owl happened to come to her first, but she had already tried that and it hadn't done anything. Strangely enough, she knew exactly why: this game was of such high stakes and consisted of such highly strategic planning that she needed an actual, physical human to listen to her.

There was only one problem with all of this, however, and that problem was the fact that Janique did not have any friends. Wandering the halls, she sighed to herself, trying to come with an alternate solution to her desires but failing. And all at once, the answer came to her, and she grinned at its simple generosity. She did have a friend, no matter how annoying she thought that other girl to be: Victoria Newbury! Jani didn't even have to think for very long, figuring that the Wormwood would most likely be situated at the library, and so it was in that direction that Janique headed towards. Entering the mostly empty place, she scanned the tables, looking for the girl.

She spotted her amidst a pile of books and hurried to the table, taking a seat next to her. "Hey, Vic," she greeted, the smile on her face more for the plans she had than at seeing the Wormwood.

"Hi Janique! How are you?"

"I'm great, actually." She paused before adding, "How about you? I saw what happened in duelling. Are you feeling better?" Janique didn't actually care, but false sympathy always proved a good move to make. It seemed that people liked having others care about them, and it was something Janique could never figure out. Self-sufficiency was all that worked for her, and it was something she rather liked having. Glancing over at the girl's work, she frowned, muttering, "Oh, I hate this subject. I never could work out the translations." Again this was a calculated move; knowing Victoria, the girl would hopefully offer her help, and Janique wouldn't have to actually spend time doing the stupid homework.

"Long time no see!"

As Victoria put down her pink - and Janique stifled a snicker at this - quill, Janique nodded in agreement to her statement. "We should catch up," she said, smiling. Of course, she wasn't interested in what the girl had to say, but if pretending to listen to the Wormwood was the cost of having someone listen to her, it was worth it. She always had been good at hearing without listening.

"I'm very good thank you, the sun is shining, so that always makes me smile, even when it's cold!"

"That's... nice," Janique offered, not sure how to take that statement. Merlin, did that girl really think like that? No wonder she was so annoying, she thought, biting her tongue to stop a rude comment, but part of it had already slipped out, and Jani heard her own voice add, "Oh, but doesn't the sun always set?"

Victoria had continued with how easy she found Runes, and again Jani found herself wanting to hex the annoying witch, but knowing that she needed to keep her as a friend, merely smiled. "Wow," she said, a note of false pride in her tone. "You're really smart! I couldn't even do the easy ones he gave us." She hoped that the Wormwood would catch her subtle hinting and offer her some help, and save Jani some time when it came to her homework.

"What about you?"

She had played the listening friend, nodding and voicing 'mhmm's and 'ahh's at the appropriate parts, waiting for Vic to ask her in return. And when she did, Jani grinned at her, wanting to tell her entire plan in that exact moment, but stalling herself, making sure she could trust the girl before she said anything. "Nothing much, just classes and the like. You know, the usual," she said casually, before dropping her voice to a whisper. "But I have something planned that's going to be the highlight of my year. It's highly secretive." Pausing, she let that piece of information settle before adding, "So you can't repeat what I'm about to tell you."

"It does, and then it is replaced with the moon, which is equally as beautiful and ever changing."

She had an answer for everything, Janique noted, doing her best not to frown. Victoria was really starting to get on her nerves with her faked cheerfulness and happy-go-lucky attitude. How someone could keep up such a horrible persona amazed her, and Jani had to admit she was a tad bit impressed by Victoria's abilities.

When the Wormwood offered her help with the runes, Jani pretended to think about it for a few seconds before replying with, "If you're sure, Vic. I don't want to take up too much of your time." She paused and smiled at her before added, "But I really could use the help."

"I'm good with secrets."

That was what Janique had been waiting for, and a small smirk appeared on her face. Where to start, she wondered, before deciding on the beginning. "Well, you know Callum, right? I met him during summer and figured he would be a good game." Pausing, she considered her for a few seconds before continuing. "You see, I take down play boys. They can't resist my charm and well, that just helps me in my duty!"

Once again she looked around, making sure there was nobody near enough to overhear her, and then she leaned back in her chair, relaxed and continued with the rest of the story, from moving to the bar, to when school started and they went on their first date. "... and, seeing as it's the holidays coming up, I have something really awesome planned to break his heart."

She stopped here, waiting to see Victoria's reaction to what she had just revealed before she told her all her plans.

"Helping others is great fun anyway, besides, we're friends, that's what friends do!"

This time, she didn't argue, instead nodding with a word of thanks. This was going to be an easy pass for her homework, and she smiled to herself. "When could we meet up to do that?" she asked, not wanting to be too pushy but also wanting a confirmation that she would be getting the help.

"Don't you love him? Isn't breaking his heart... mean?"

"No, I don't," she answered blatantly. The second question was more difficult to answer, and she kept quiet for a few moments, mulling over what to say. How could she get someone as shockingly innocent as Victoria - although she was quite certain that the girl was merely faking it - to understand? " "It would be mean if he didn't deserve it, Vic," she started slowly. "He does that to other girls, you see, which is why I'm doing this to him. To protect other girls."

For arguments sake, if Victoria really was as pure as she was pretending to be, Janique wondered if she was prepared to know about the 'shocking' behaviour of some men. Deciding to just go ahead, she continued with, "Not all boys are nice. Some pretend to be kind and caring just so they can... get a girl." At the last second, she changed her wording choice, so that she wouldn't expose the Wormwood to too much, if she was indeed that unknowing. "After that, they leave the girl and break her heart. It's boys like these that I go after, so that I can give them a taste of their own medicine. Callum is one of them."

At the mention of starting now, Janique nodded. "After this," she said, her intention of bragging still at its peak. Watching Victoria's expression told her that the girl had not bought what Janique had been saying, and she sighed softly. Why was this girl so blind to the obvious? "He really is like that, Vic," she said patiently. "I've met a lot of play boys in my life, and I know all the signs. He is most definitely one of them."

"Maybe you just misunderstood something he did?"

Jani couldn't help it, and she laughed, shaking her head. "No possible way," she said, still shaking her head, amused at the innocence she had just witnessed. "Callum Hunt is a player, one of the best I have come across, yes, but he is one nevertheless. I stake my entire reputation on that fact." Her reputation was something she held in high esteem, and - although Victoria probably didn't know it - for her to say something like that meant that she was more than a hundred percent sure.

"...you two look very nice together!"

Looking at the younger witch in disbelief, Janique said nothing for a few moments, trying to process the meaning of the words and failing. "I-" she paused and frowned. "That's preposterous," she finally finished, still not fully understanding what Victoria had meant. There was no way in hell she would date someone like Callum, so why would anyone think they looked 'nice together'? "It's faked, you know. I'm playing him. It's faked," she added, emphasising the fact that none of it was real, that they were not a real couple and that there was no possible way she and Callum would work.

"But he looks so happy with you, and he protected you in Defence Against the Dark Arts. He likes you a lot."

Again Janique was floored by the complete ignorance of the witch before her. She just did not get it! "It wasn't real," she said, keeping the irritation out of her tone. "He did that on purpose because he is trying to get me to fall for him. He doesn't know that I'm the one who has the upper hand." She couldn't help but sound prideful, and she had every right to be. Callum was her biggest game yet, and she had played him beautifully, every move done with precision and accuracy.

"If you don't like him in the same way he likes you, can't you just tell him nicely?"

Frowning, Janique blurted out, "But what's the fun in that? And besides, he doesn't like me. He's pretending to like me so he can hurt me, and I'm doing the same back. He just doesn't know it," she tried explaining again. Merlin this girl was thick, she thought, wondering how one could be so dumb when it came to matters like this.

There had been no comment to her previous statement, and Jani could see the distrust on Vic's face. This girl was truly blind, she decided with a sigh. She was exactly the type of person that Callum - or any other play boy - would target, and as much as she didn't like her, she knew that someone like that should not ever be played. It wasn't a conscience that made Janique pity the girl, no, but rather the fact that she was doing all this to protect girls from those kind of boys, and yet Victoria would probably end up walking straight into a trap.

"There's no fun in being mean."

Yes, there is, Janique thought, but decided not to say anything. Obviously Victoria had no sense of enjoyment, because if she did, she would know exactly how fun it was to look into the eyes of a game and see them hurt, confused. There was a satisfaction arising from it that nothing else could match.

"I always found that everyone is happier if you do and say nice things, and never try to deceive people. And that's what everyone wants in life, isn't it? To find happiness? That's what my mommy always says, and that's what I always do."

There was some truth in the Wormwood's words, and Janique nodded slightly. "Yes, but what if the other people are mean to you first? Revenge is the only thing that can stop them," she explained. Goodness, if she didn't do what she did, why, half the girls in the school would have been played! Yes, Janique really did believe that, for she was high up on her horse and never intended to come down.

"I don't believe in revenge. I always go with live and let live."

Of course she didn't, thought Jani, barely able to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "That's an ... interesting ... way of living," she commented, trying not to snigger. Merlin, if she had that concept, Jani knew she would be walked all over! Maybe that's why the girl before her looked so - and this was the only word Janique could come up with - usable.

"Shall we do your Runes homework now?"

Ah, yes, the common 'topic change' ruse. Instead of defending their own virtues or beliefs, some  people - cowards, in Jani's opinion, which was never wrong - chose to back away. These sort of people would never grow up to be something worthwhile, and Janique had developed this idea a long time ago, and it was why she never, ever backed down from anything that challenged her. "Yes, lets," she replied, the tiniest hint of disdain in her tone. Picking up the pen and paper offered to her earlier, she flashed Victoria a smile. "How do you even begin?" she asked, pretending to be confused. If the girl was going to offer her assistance, then by jove, she was going to squeeze every last ounce of 'help' she could get.