Who: Eve and Norman. Mentions of Niles, Bloxam, and one tiny mention of Connley.
What: Evie isn't very good at convincing people to be her friend.
When: IDK. Nowish?
Prompt: "Evie and Norman. I dunno. Find a way to have something with them... doing something."
Prompted by: indigo_n_orange, whose characters never fail to make me smile.

Also, I'm pretty sure I totally messed up Norman's voice. I don't interact with him enough, so it might seem kind of forced. Sorry.


Eve didn’t like to break the rules in the ways everyone else expected her to. She didn’t drink or smoke on campus. She didn’t vandalize. She didn’t even throw dungbombs. As a rule, her rebellion was much more sophisticated. Today, however, she had a reason to be bad the old fashioned way.

Some weeks ago, she had informed Connley Strout that she never smoked on school grounds. Up until now, it had been true. In general, Eve only smoked when she was staying with her mother and Gary (who didn’t really care. sad excuse for parents, they are). She didn’t particularly like it, but she knew it drove her dad crazy when he picked her up from mum’s smelling like an ashtray. Today, however, she found it advantageous to be on the grounds by the lake with a fag. It gave her something to do, and more importantly, it made for the perfect peace offering.

She had asked Norman Taylor to meet her here via the journals this morning. He hadn’t responded, but she thought she ought to wait around just in case. She took a drag and thought idly about how some prefect somewhere would probably smell the smoke on her and send her to Bloxam. She didn’t really care, though. Bloxam’s scare tactics didn’t phase Eve anymore. She’d been exposed so much that she’d become somewhat desensitised. Besides, it was fun to push Mme Headmistess’s buttons.

Right on schedule, Norman appeared. She motioned for him to sit (she was perched on a conveniently located bench), but he didn’t.

“What do you want?” He clearly wasn’t interested in her usual banter and mind games.

In lieu of answering his question, she held out her mostly-full pack of cigarettes. “Take one. They’re French.” He did, and they spent a moment smoking in silence. He wasn’t arguing with free gifts, but it was clear that he was sceptical about this whole meeting.

Eve flicked her the end of her cigarette to the ground as she broke the silence. “We should be friends.”

It was a profoundly strange statement. Why on earth would Scary Girl want to be Norman Taylor’s friend? What could she possibly gain from that? More importantly, did they have anything in common?

The look on Norman’s face said it all. Luckily, Eve had already prepared her rebuttal. “Look, kiddo. You’re mates with Niles. I’m mates with Niles.” She shrugged. “You clearly have the Niles Stainwright stamp of approval. He likes me, so he must have good taste when it comes to the company he keeps. Besides. If I make friends with his friends, he and I become better friends. Which I’d like. I don’t have too many close friends, but I’d like him to be one of them.” She lit a second fag. “Case in point, we should be mates.”

“I don’t give a single flying fuck who you’re friends with, Smith. This little thing you have for him isn’t going to work out.” Norman took the last drag off his cigarette and put it out on the arm rest of the bench. “Thanks for the fag.”

He started to walk away, but Eve wasn’t done. She wasn’t above talking to his back. “Hey, if you don’t want him, I’m taking him. Fair warning.”

Norman turned around to say something, but Eve was gone.

So much for being friends.