Best Friend Adventures (Matthew)

Ari was pumped for this term! She was so excited! After the first term of nervousness, and not knowing what to do, she really felt better about this place and felt like she belonged. It was now time to explore bigger parts of the grounds. She had pretty much gone everywhere in the castle, she felt, there was probably more, but honestly, those stairs where killer. They were probably made to make her feel tired, and lazy. She hated them. Going up to breakfast in the morning sucked because she ahd to walk up ALL THE STAIRS.

She was skipping down the hallways and humming along when she noticed Matthew! Her bestest friend in the ENTIRE WORLD. It looked like he was on his way outside! That's where she was going! Maybe he knew and wanted to meet up with her or something! She would want to meet up with herself to if she were Matthew! She went up to him and said, "Hey best friend! Where you trying to find me!?"

Of course his answer would be yes! She said, "I'm going to the Forbidden Forest! Want to come!?"

Of course he would want to come with her! She was brilliant, and fun to hang out with! Well, she thought so anyways. And he must of think so too since he is her best friend! She didn't even wait for him to answer her, and grabbed his arm and started pulling him down to the forest. After all, best friends did things together right?

Being a first year at Hogwarts had been cool - mostly because Matthew had been looking forward to it his whole life. Or at least, what felt like his whole life for the two years that Ollie went away and Matthew couldn't go with him. Those were the most boring two years that Matthew had ever experienced. But as cool as first year was, second year would be way cooler! Because now Matthew wasn't the youngest in the school! He still had no clue where he was going in the castle, but he could act like he did! And he could use the fire spell! And plenty of other less important spells - well, maybe not plenty. A few other spells.

Matthew didn't know where Ollie was - it was ridiculous of course. Brothers who were as awesome as Matthew and Ollie were supposed to hang out all the time. But Ollie was probably hanging out with that stupid girl from the ice cream parlor. Vanessa or whatever her name was. Matthew actually knew her name was't Vanessa, but he was going to call her that in order to make her realize that she was completely unimportant and unworthy of someone as super cool as Ollie. In the meantime, Matthew would just have to keep himself busy without his awesome brother. It was fine, because Matthew had friends. Like Derek! Who he still had to share the word "shit" with! Derek would be so impressed by his expanding vocabulary and shit. See, there it was again!

But right now, Matthew didn't know where any of his friends were, so he figured he'd head outside and practice spells for a while. Unfortunately, he hadn't even made it out of the castle before he was approached by someone who thought she was his friend, but really wasn't. Matthew groaned to himself when Ariadne popped up out of nowhere and started calling him best friend and stuff. It was even more annoying now that Ollie was calling her his girlfriend. The whole idea was disgusting. "What do you want?" he grumbled, looking over at her. She was too hyper and annoying - kind of like he was to other people.

Matthew looked away from her, deciding that maybe if he just ignored her she would go away. But then, she said something interesting, and Matthew looked back over at her in surprise. "The forbidden forest?" he repeated, unable to hide the curiosity in his tone. Maybe, just this once, he could make an exception and hang out with her. Just for a little bit. Just because the forest had to be cool. "What will we do there?" he asked her as he crossed the entrance hall and pushed one of the large front doors open, holding it for her before letting it shut.

The forbidden forest. A place she was sure no human had ever gone. And if they had, they where eaten alive! She decided to scare him a bit with the stories she had heard around school. She said, "Well, I heard that there's monster's in there. I think it would be fun to see!"

She believed herself so much, she was almost scared herself. She said, "I bet you would be to scared to go into the forest!"

Edging him on. That would get him to go in with her. She was already pulling him along outside, so he might as well go with her. She pulled him a little bit more and said, "We can actually see if people get eaten in the forest! Wouldn't that be fun! We could be the ONLY first years to ever venture into the forest! Make a name for ourselves you know!"

She wanted to work him up. Make him afraid. Make it seem like she was the brave one and he wasn't. So that way when she told people, it was his fault they got scared and not his! This was a brilliant plan! If she said so herself.

"Monsters?" Matthew repeated doubtfully, looking over at Ari with an unimpressed expression. "Come on, there aren't any monsters," he said, though even as he said it, he wondered if he was really so sure about it. It was a pretty big forest - maybe there could be monsters in there. But probably not. "If there are monsters in there, why don't they come out onto the grounds? There isn't a fence or anything stopping them," he pointed out in a very logical way. Maybe he'd been hanging around Derek too much. "Anyway, even if there are monsters, I'll just blast them with a giant fireball!" Matthew exclaimed enthusiastically, grinning.

"Hey!" he exclaimed indignantly when she kept pulling him by the arm! "I can walk by myself, thanks, you can let go!" he said, trying to pull his arm away, to no avail. This girl had a death grip. Not cool. Wait, what did she say? Instantly, Matthew stopped worrying about her grip on his arm, because she was insulting him! "I am not scared to go in!" he retorted, glaring at her. "You're the one who's probably scared. But I'll prove that I'm not. Let's go."

Matthew rolled his eyes at her when she mentioned people getting eaten. "We aren't going to get eaten," he said. "But if anything in there does want to eat us, it will eat you because you're more annoying." Hey, it was only the truth. He was pretty sure Ari would just ignore it and go on about how everyone loved her or something. "But seriously, if you don't want anything to attack us, you probably shouldn't sing. That would make anything want to go after us." Matthew knew this first hand, because he contemplated blasting Ari with the fire spell every time she sang, and he was a person! How could anyone expect a poor, defenseless animal who didn't know any better to put up with such torture without at least trying to put an end to it?

There were so monsters in the Forbidden Forest! She had read books on them once because she was bored. It was also a boring book. She liked to experience things in real life, not read about them. That was pretty much why she wanted to go into the forest anyways! She wasn't scared liked Matthew claimed her to be. She was never scared. Ari, was the bravest of them all. She was a PRINCESS after all. She said, "I'm not scared! I'm a Princess, Princesses are brave, and loyal, you are so lucky to have a Princess for a best friend!"

She was offended. Best friends did not act like that. They did not offer their best friends up to be eaten by the monsters in the Forbidden Forest. She said, "I am not annoying. I am the best. I am the greatest. You are the one who is annoying. Duh. And I sing beautifully, for your information." She added, "And my singing is the best. I'm better than Idina Menzel HERSELF according to my Aunt. So HA." She was going to defend herself. She knew she was the greatest. So, therefore, Matthew should know he's the greatest.

"Nuh uh, princesses aren't brave, stupid," he retorted, rolling his eyes. "Knights are brave. And so are superheros, like Batman! But not princesses." Honestly, didn't Ari know anything? "Anyway, we'll see when we get in there. I bet you get scared before I do." As they continued to walk in the direction of the forest, Matthew wondered what he'd gotten himself into. Was proving that he was brave really worth spending extra time with Ariadne? But as he thought about changing his mind and leaving, he strangely found that he didn't really want to leave. For some reason, Ari's company seemed better than no company at all. So he just kept walking, pushing that particularly disturbing thought to the back of his mind.

Ugh, was this the time to make use of his new water spell? Because she was definitely being annoying. But no, Matthew figured he should probably save that for a time when she was being more annoying. "I'm not annoying!" he retorted indignantly, giving her a look. Although, in all truth, he'd been called annoying plenty. By multiple people. But there was no way he was more annoying than Ariadne. He was much cooler than her at least, so he could afford to be annoying. He just ignored her when she started talking about her singing, because he didn't even want to get into that.

"Come on, we're almost there!" he said, his irritation ebbing as the forest began to loom before them. "We just have to be careful not to get caught," he said with a grin on his face. "Here, come on, come this way!" he said, grabbing her arm and tugging her in a direction where the forest edge was mostly hidden by the castle. "What are we going to do when we get in there?" he asked excitedly, hardly even remembering that he was with the most annoying person on the planet.

Matthew didn't know anything. She replied, "YES HUH. Princesses are brave! Like Repunzel who was locked in the tower her whole life! She didn't go insane or anything! And Princess Fiona from Shrek was locked in a tower by a dragon and fought off knights and stuff! Honestly! Don't you watch movies!?" She rolled her eyes at the boy. He was being rediculous. She was SO brave like Princess Anna who was her favorite of them all. Now he was going on about being scared. He was obviously scared if he was talking about her being scared. She said, "No way. I'm not scared. I'm never scared! I bet you get scared first!"

Then he said something about getting caught. She stopped. She said, "I don't want to get caught....I don't want to get in trouble... I do not get in trouble anywhere Matthew. I'm a good kid! Matthew! What if we get suspended, or expelled! Or detention?!" Her heart started pounding. Ariadne O'Rieley NEVER got in trouble. So she said, "Yes, I'm scared, your so right, princesses aren't brave, and neither am I. And don't you dare try and trick me to go in! Because I won't!" She was regretting this decision to go into the forest. She was regretting it very much.

Matthew snorted indignantly as Ari explained how princesses were brave. "Wating around in a tower isn't being brave," he said, rolling his eyes. "Princesses just sit around and do nothing until a prince who is actually brave comes to rescue them." Which was why princess stories were so stupid. They should really be about the prince, who was much cooler but still usually pretty stupid and girly. And Matthew so would not get scared first! He was sure of it. And even if he did, he wouldn't show it first, which was really all that mattered. He didn't actually have to win, he just had to make Ari think that he'd won. But he was still pretty sure he was braver than her. After all, he was armed with fire and she was only armed with her terrible voice - well, actually, her voice might be a better weapon. Maybe, if she sang at whatever was attacking them, and he blasted her away with his fire, whatever monster it was wouldn't eat Matthew out of gratitude for disposing of Ari.

But then, all of a sudden, Ari seemed to change her mind. Not because she was scared. Because she didn't want to break the rules. Matthew smirked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Oh come on, don't tell me that you're afraid to break the rules!" he chided her, rolling his eyes. "That's even worse than being afraid to go into the forest. It's not like you can die from breaking the rules." Matthew didn't exactly want to get expelled either, but he was pretty sure they wouldn't get expelled for going into the forest. "If you don't go in, it means you got scared first and then you lose the bet. And that means I get to pick what I win. So, if you don't go in, you can't ever sing again!" Yes! Winning was awesome!

Ari glared at Matthew. He was taunting her with these child-like senarios. She argued back, "There are too brave princesses! Like Princess Fiona, from Shrek! She was locked in the tower, but then Shrek comes to save her. BUT then, she beats up a whole band of evil people who are trying to rescue her! And she pulls an Arrow out of Shrek's butt! That's pretty brave!" Ari was braver than Fiona though. Braver than Princess Merida as well! She would add that into the conversation later if he decided to trash her favorite Princesses ever again! But since she was scared of breaking the rules, she thought of a point.

Merida broke the rules, Mulan broke the rules, all these Princesses broke the rules, and were brave. Since she was really a princess, she needed to break the rules as well. And besides, Matthew said she couldn't sing ever again if she didn't go into the forest. She just had to pretend that she was just as awesome as Mulan, and Merida. Breaking the rules was fun! And besides, she never backed down from a bet. So she breathed in deeply, and looked bravely in the forest. She would go in. She would be braver than any of the princesses she could name! She would be Princess Ari. But she already was Princess Ari.

She said, "Fine. I'll go in because I'm a Princess, and Princesses are brave! But no other reason! And I can sing whenever I want to!"

There, she told him what's up!