Starstruck

“My heart swings back and forth between the need for routine and the urge to run.”
Note to self

Dust flaked down from the ceiling into Harry’s mouth from someone jumping on the steps. He was happy he had his arm covering his eyes. He recognized the jumping as Dudley wanting breakfast. 

Harry was genuinely shocked everytime Dudley jumped on the stairs and didn’t fall through. Though if he did he would crush Harry with his immense body weight, which would be a fate worse than death. 

His uncle unlocked the door to the closet and he came out… of the closet. He came out of the closet. 

“God, I'm hilarious.” Harry whispers under his breath as he stretches out. While walking to the kitchen he had a toy car thrown at him from Dudley. It hit him on the knee because Dudley couldn’t aim, his eyes always being a little crossed. 

“Come on! Get me food! I want French toast! French toast!” Dudley pounded his fists on the table and wined. 

His Aunt Petunia sat down next to him to “calm him down.” She brushed his hair down and cooed over him. He giggled like a baby and scrunched his nose and wagged it at her. Harry wanted to throw up or cry. His aunt wagged her finger at Dudley. 

“No no no, we don’t hit the table! We do yell at Harry though!” She turned to look at him with a glare, “let’s hurry it up, boy.”  She turned back to Dudley and smiled while coddling him some more. 

He got out all the stuff for French toast and began to make breakfast. He made the awful mistake of looking over and seeing his aunt Petunia pinching his cheeks and giving him kisses…

“On the fucking lips?” Harry whispered to himself trying not to throw up. This is what he gets for waking up late and not making breakfast before they woke up. 

His Aunt snapped her head around and yelled over at him, “What did you say, boy?”

“Gah- nothing, absolutely nothing.. uh breakfast should be ready soon.” The French toast was in the pan cooking and Harry was cleaning up as he went. When the time went off he flipped them then reset it. 

He plated and added fruits and stuff to the plate for his aunt, then fudge sauce, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, and whipped cream on Dudley’s. He put it in front of them and called up to his uncle that food was ready. 

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Cherry woke up in pain. 

As she did every day of her life. 

Maybe it was just morning, but, Jesus, life fucking sucked for her.

Even though they wanted to go back to sleep, her tired arms pushed her off the bed and she flopped onto the floor. She really did try her best to push herself off the floor but she genuinely just couldn’t move. She stayed like that for about an hour staring up at the ceiling, then she heard her mom calling out to her.

Cherry sprang up and almost tripped down the stairs with how fast she was going. She ran to the living room and saw her mom on the couch. She had sobered up overnight and was looking at her with those eyes. 

“Hi sweetie.”

Her mom tried to sit up so Cherry went over to help her. She smiled at her mom and kicked the bottles around away from her.

“Hi Mum, how are you feeling?” The hairbrush was on the table so she grabbed it then sat on the arm of the couch to brush out her moms hair. The dark reddish brown hair was a rat's nest and all bunched up in the back around the top of her skull. Cherry wonders what possibly could have made it this bad. She didn’t think about that too much. 

Her mom started to cry and lean on Cherry’s legs while she brushed her hair out. She cried and promised it was the last time, she swore, and begged for forgiveness. 

“Please honey, I’m so sorry.. it was- it was just a bad day I swear, work hard be putting pressure on me and I swear it was just-” Her mom choked out a sob.

“No no mama, it’s ok, I forgive you. I know you didn’t mean to, I swear it’s ok.” She brushed her hair down and tried to comfort her.

Her mom sniffled and looked up at her, tears already drying up. Her mossy green eyes glanced at the bandages covering her arm. 

“Did.. did I do that?” She reached out to touch it, but Cherry pulled her arm away to continue brushing her hair.

“No, I did that. I shut the kitchen door on my arm.” Her mouth quirked up in a sort of smile that had a feel of relief at her moms laughter.

Cherry joined in with the laughter and when she was done brushing her mom's hair out she led her mom to her room. Cherry stepped on a piece of broken glass on the way there and made a mental note to clean it up. 

Her moms room was the cleanest room in the house, Cherry made it so. She didn’t want her mom waking up in filth. 

Laying down on the bed was a task for her mom because she didn’t want to sleep again, but Cherry knew how it went. 

“Honey.. I really am sorry. And I love you, with all my heart.” Her mom touched her hand and intertwined her fingers. 

“I know mama, I love you too.” She brushed some hair out of her face to make her more comfortable.

Then the woman fell back asleep. 

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The glass had cut the side of the trash bag when she dumped it in so she had to grab a new one. After swapping them she b egan to get ready.  

Her closet was full of stolen goodies, clothes, jewellery, shoes, makeup. Stealing was easy for her, sometimes it was a little to easy. If anyone asked, she would say it was magic. 

The rest of her closet wasn’t magic, but was homemade.

She chose to wear her timberlands with white and black mismatched socks. When she put them on she let one be higher than the other because why not?

Today was much chillier than yesterday so she grabbed a pair of grey cargo pants that hung loosely around her legs. They had pockets lining the outside, some smaller, some bigger to fit her whole livelihood inside.

She pulled out an Army green tanktop that accentuated her waist quite well. She then grabbed a fun long sleeve button up, but she didn’t button it up. It would eventually make its way around her waist when she gets annoyed at it. The roller skating floor patern on it was made by Cherry and she was very proud of it. 

When Cherry finished picking her outfit, she grabbed the bandage off her nightstand and wrapped it from the bottom of her palm up to her elbow. She adjusted it a bit and made sure it was snug and not going to roll down her arm. It’s taken a few years to get it perfect almost every time. 

She walked back to her closet and rummaged around through her jewellery. She always had her bracelet that said her name and had small cherry beads, then a hair elastic, then a neon green and neon pink bracelet on the right arm. She slipped each of them over her hand, the ones on her right fitting loosely around her wrist and the left ones snug around the bandage.

The reflection in the mirror was satisfying enough for her step away without making any adjustments. She walked out of her room and locked the door behind her, both outside locks, then went downstairs without being to noisy. 

She checked her pockets to make sure she had her phone and everything else she needed for going out.

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She suddenly remembered Silly and ran back in. She never went anywhere without her and wasn’t planning on it.

Silly was a necklace that Cherry got when she was younger; much younger. She didn’t know when exactly or how but to Cherry, Silly had always been there for her. In more ways than one.

The necklace itself is a simple silver necklace except for the snake dangling off of it. The snake itself was such a dark colour of green she was basically black. Silly’s eyes were two small jems, barely even noticeable if you weren’t up close. An emerald on the left and a ruby on the right, mirroring Cherry's eyes to a tee. 

She always hung around her neck, only being left locked in her nightstand when Cherry wasn't sober in fear of hurting Silly or losing her. 

Silly was the most expensive thing Cherry owned. Expensive in her heart and in money because of them jems, so she always had Silly around her neck so her mom couldn’t pawn it for drug money. Cherry had to stop herself from doing that when she needed- 

Cherry was out the door once again. 

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Obnoxious chewing sounds and snorts, most likely from a prejudice or discriminatory joke, bothered Harry as he cleaned in the other room. He picked up and tossed candy wrappers he found stuffed behind the windowsill into the trash bag perched precariously on the chair. 

Dudley had attempted to hide the wrappers from someone nonexistent because god knows his Aunt and Uncle would be fine with anything he eats, even if he ate a fucking cat. 

Harry was in a bit of a mood this morning, between the beating he got yesterday and having to make Dudley a whole different breakfast because he didn’t like it; he was a bit pissed. Though the sight of red and green hair walking up to his porch made his entire day better than ever. 

She knocked on the door and waited with her hands clasped behind her back, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. 

“Be there in just a moment!” His uncle yelled at the door as he got up from his food- reluctantly- and went to get the door. 

He opened it and Cherry was standing there, and she had a nice outfit on, definitely planning on going somewhere. He heard his uncles heavy footsteps behind him, so he moved out of the way to not be seen when he opened the door. He was visibly upset about being pulled away from his food.

“Hello Miss, what can I do for you!” His uncle pulled his best smile, which to anyone else looked tired but to Harry it was threatening. 

“Hey, I’m Cherry Wood, your neighbour!” Cherry had a bright look on her face, or that might just be her makeup. It was colourful and very pretty. 

“Ah, nice to meet you Miss. Cherry! Dursley, Vernon Dursley.” He held out his hand in a firm handshake, Harry rolled his eyes at his weirdness. 

“Miss. Cherry, shut up man.” Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing.

“Mr. Dursley, a pleasure to meet you.” She shook his outstretched hand daintily and giggled at “Mr. Dursleys” face. 

He smiled and welcomed her in, then he gestured behind him for Harry to go hide. Harry decided to army crawl under the couch, causing his uncle to sigh. 

Cherry stepped inside, her shoes and socks being the only thing visible to Harry currently. 

“I was wondering if Harry would be free today?” Being as curious as she was, she glanced around the house. She saw Harry’s aunt sitting at their table, and she waved at her enthusiastically with a smile at her lips. 

“I Definitely want to establish good rapport if this witch is gonna let me go anywhere with Harry. Ha.. witch..”  She looked up as Vernon started to speak again.

“Harry? Why? Hasn’t gotten himself into trouble has he?” Cherry kept smiling as wide as she could and shook her head.

“No sir, I was hoping to steal him for the day to hang out.” She noted how the man obviously looked like he didn’t want him to go, but they both knew it would be a weird thing for him to say no to, so he said yes. 

“Thanks! And I promise I’ll have him back by dawn.” She winked at his Uncle and he chortled. 

“Harry, go get changed, you're going to be going with Cherry here today!” Harry rolled out from under the couch where he was hiding, making Cherry laugh, and he went to get changed. 

While he was changing Cherry waited at the stairs and the uncle went back to his food. She saw the teenage baby looking at her with wide eyes, then he.. winked? Blinked? Seized? All three? 

She tried her hardest to ignore both that and the fact he was naked. She was thankful for the tablecloth and began to pray that he at least had pants on under the table.

Harry eventually came down after getting ready for like 5 minutes compared to Cherry's hour and a half. He was just wearing a black top with black shorts, kinda basic but at least he’s wearing clothes. She opened the door for him and let him out. 

“Morning, Darling! Where did you wanna go?” They stepped off the last step, Cherry practically bouncing off of it. Harry looked over at her with a raised eyebrow and stared at her as if he was looking for answers.  

“What’s wrong?” She saw the look on his face and hoped he wasn’t doing this just to be nice, maybe he wanted to go hang out with whoever, she doesn’t really know why he would want to be around her. Yea he had helped her yesterday, did she misread the signs..?

“Why do you wanna hang out with me?” The glasses on his face reflected the ground. He weakly kicked a rock that was in his path to the side. 

Cherry’s eyes widened but in less than a second she let out a breath with a smile. She felt comforted that she wasn’t the only one worried if the other was actually wanting to be around them.

“..I don’t really have any good friends, and you seem nice,” She scratched her forearm with her long nails a bit to try and rid some of her nerves, the sensation against the bandage soothing her and making the words easier to say, “You don’t have to be around me if you don’t want to though.” 

“No! I do want to, I don't have any friends. Well I do, I have my cousin, Dudley. Kinda.” He said shyly with his face growing crimson.

Cherry clutched her pearls. 

“Ok no if you say that Dumply is your only friend, I am so sorry and we are now best friends. You don’t have a choice in the matter, because that is just sad,” Harry pushed her to the side while laughing and she pushed back. They were rounding the corner and Cherry saw the playground. She picked up her pace and was heading straight for the swings, Harry was hot on her tail. 

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Half an hour had passed and most of it was taken up by shit talking Dudley. Cherry was flying high on the swings while Harry stayed with his feet planted on the ground, gently swinging side to side. They were talking about how people on the street for the Fourth of July never lit fireworks, and to Cherry's dismay Harry had never even seen a firework.

She was about to give him a detailed description of a firework when they heard a bunch of voices nearing the corner. Cherry quickly got off the swing, hopping off and quieting the moving swing, looking over at Harry. 

“Oh shit..” He muttered on his breath.

“Girl language.” She said, flicking him jokingly.

“Oh poopy.” He whispered, giving her a pointed look.

“Ok nevermind.” Harry got up from the swing and grabbed her arm, dragging her in another direction away from whoever they were. She saw a small group of kids, one of them being Dudley. He pulled her into the bushes on someone’s fence. 

“Frick frack..” The bushes attempted to grab his glasses right off his face.

“Oh my god Harry just say fuck please I’m sorry.” She said regretting getting out of bed today.

“You’ve done this, own it bridge.” He said tossing a smug look over his shoulder.

“Stop it. Please, I’m begging.” Cherry whispered as they walked behind the bushes.

“Hey who is there!?” A squeaky voice yelled trying to sound intimidating.

Harry and Cherry clapped hands over each other's mouths and exited on the other side of the bushes. They made a run for the houses and prayed the boys didn’t see them. 

“Man, it was probably just a squirrel!” Some boy with hair sticking up around his baseball cap said while smacking a shorted boy. 

“I love squirrels.” Dudley said while stuffing a chocolate bar into his face.

“We know Dudley.” 

“I love squirrels.” 

“Gross Dudley.” 

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The scooters were easy to use after Harry got the hang of it. They went up and down the street, turning around whenever they caught sight of the group. Harry was struggling to keep up, but soon he was practically ahead of her! 

Cherry wouldn’t tell him this but she was dragging her heels a bit.

When on a flat bit of the street she did a cool jump on the scooter where she pulled the scooter up,  jumped up, then the bottom part swung around, and she fell back onto the scooter yet kept going! 

Harry begged her to teach him, but he could barely ride the scooter as just a scooter let alone tricks. Cherry giggled at his misery, then asked if Harry wanted to go to the Corner Store and he said he didn’t know what that was. 

An over dramatic gasp left her mouth as Cherry hopped back on her scooter and went to a sidewalk Harry had never been on before. 

He took walks around the neighbourhood sometimes when his guardians were away and he finished his chores but he’d never actually been off of the neighbourhood without them. Or at all. He got on with hesitation and followed her slowly. She saw he was a little scared so she decided to let him past and just tell him the directions so they could go at his pace. 

“Just down here, then take the left at the Speed Limit 40 sign.” Harry forgot which way was left so he held up his two hands… while riding the scooter.

Cherry dropped her scooter beside her and ran over to Harry who had fallen off his scooter and skidded down the sidewalk. 

“Harry! You've got to keep your hands on the bars, sweetheart..” She helped him up and used her sweatshirt to wipe off the blood and dirt from his hands. He bit his lip and flinched, almost pulling his hands away from her but she had a firm grip. Harry didn't get hurt too often as he barely left the house so every small move and touch made pain flair from his wrist to his fingertips. 

Cherry reached into one of her many pockets and pulled out a large bandaid. It fit perfectly over the cuts on his hands. She grabbed one smaller one and put it on his chin where there was a scrap. Harry smoothed down the edges of the bandaids anxiously a few times while Cherry went to pick up his glasses that had flown off. 

The scooter was on top of the glasses and had made a crack in the left side with lots of scratches on the other. 

She felt a pang of guilt, but when handing him the glasses he wiped them down with his shirt and didn't seem to notice anything wrong. When he put them on like nothing happened, she looked him in the eyes and did see a crack anymore. Anyone else would just assume it was dirt, but Cherry knew better than that. She took a deep breath and reminded herself not to jump to conclusions, that maybe it was just dirt, but also to not just ignore things like that. 

“See, this is the spiralling we talked about…” 

“Shut up.”

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Harry’s heart was pounding in his chest and in his head. It happened again. He prayed that Cherry didn’t notice anything. He took a few deep breaths and picked up the scooter from where it laid, then began going again without talking about what happened.

He made a mental note to tell his aunt about it happening again. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down enough to scooter. 

Cherry followed him close behind and was pointing when they needed to turn, having more practice than him she could take her hands off and keep balanced.

There was a small store on the corner of two streets connecting. The area behind it had a few picnic tables so the kids left their scooters at a random table and went inside. The boy at the counter paid them no attention and scrolled on his phone. Cherry led him over to the slushy stand singing a song terribly. He could tell she was just singing it in a funny way, and he smiled as her voice filled the mostly empty store.

“Freeze your brain, suck on that straw, get hm hm hmmmmm…” She grabbed two of the biggest cups there was and filled one with blue raspberry and one with cherry. Harry took both of them when they were handed to him, and continued followed her around the store looking like a lost puppy. She grabbed a few different treats and looked back at Harry when she saw he wasn't grabbing anything. 

“Come on, grab whatcha want.”

She nudged him while grabbing a pack of sour patch kids. 

“I didn't grab any money…”

“Well neither did I and you don't see me worrying.” 

She snickered and grabbed a few other things so she was practically dropping stuff. Harry just grabbed a pack of mints and helped Cherry carry the stuff to the counter. Instead of paying she dropped a 5 dollar bill in the tip jar. Which their actual total, if Harry was right which he probably wasn't, was around 20. Harry looked confused as she grabbed the stuff and just left, then the boy at the counter grabbed the bill out of the jar and shoved it into his shirt. Harry waved, then went outside to follow Cherry. She put her bag on the table and began to shove everything inside. 

“I'm like.. sixty two percent sure that's not how a store works,” Harry sat on the bench and Cherry sat on the table. 

“Yea… but me and Jamie are cool. She makes 0.50 cents an hour or so, so giving her a five is better than what she makes in a week.” Cherry began packing the food stuff into her bag.

“She?” Harry helped her, and opened up the mints he got and popped one into his mouth. 

“Yea, she just dresses really masc.” Cherry said as if Harry knew what that meant.

“Masc…?” He said as he didn’t know what that meant.

“Oh wow. I've got so much to teach you.” She grabbed the mints out of his hands and put it into her bag then threw the bag over her shoulder. She pushed the cups of slushy at him and hopped off the table.

“Come on, we're going to the playground!” The scooters clanged together as she picked them up.

“But Dudleys there?”

“Different playground.”

“Oh thank god.”

Cherry giggled and gestured for him to follow. She talked about the town and whatnot, then asked why he never left his house. He just said he had loads of chores and never had time to. She said something about always being around to help, then smiled as they got to the hill. There was a set of steps that seemed to disappear into the trees. She walked up the steps and looked behind to see Harry almost sweating. 

“How are you tired already!” She barked down to him. 

“How are you not, it's so hot out!” He fanned himself with his shirt, flapping it up and down.

“It's barely 70.” She stated matter of factly.

“What does that even mean?” He whined but continued up the stairs.

Cherry let out a breathily laugh and continued up the steps. When Harry finally got there he saw a huge playground, in the shade too. Cherry opened the gate which had a broken lock. 

“I found this when.. I was just wandering around and found it.” She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. She had been kicked out for the night as her mum had someone over.

“Well it's really nice here!” Harry took in the sight. 

It had a few slides, and things he didn't recognise, but he saw two different sets of four swings.

“Wow! How do people not know about this place!”

“It's just really well hidden I guess.” She claimed, clasping him on the back before walking again.

Cherry went over to a bit of grass in the corner that had three different tables. They were weird looking tables, with granite tops and metal seats, or metal tops with granite seats. Harry sat down in the seat across from her, surveying the surroundings. Cherry smiled as Harry looked around and marveled at even the smallest of things, like a slide that wrapped around in a spiral.

“You don’t get out a lot do you?” She laid the scooters on the side of the table and put her bag down, getting his mints out.

“No, not really ever actually,” He took the mints gratefully. She laughed at his response and the shy look on his face. She grabbed the blue raspberry slushy and took a sip. 

“You should try the cherry one! It’s really good. My personal favourite is blue raspberry though.” 

Harry took the cup and hesitated, before taking a sip.. 

“Woah. Just.. woah.” 

He took a bigger sip, and Cherry waited for it to happen. She hummed the song “Freeze Your Brain” from heathers as she waited. 

Harry was confused by the look on her face, then he groaned and slapped a hand to his face, and let out a cry of pain.

“Awe what the frick!” His voice cracked as he yelled, and massaged his forehead, putting his head on the table and succumbing to the pain.

“Press your t-tounge,” she cackled between breaths, “Press it to the roof of y-your mouth.” 

Harry did as told and in what felt like an hour the headache went away. 

“What was that??” He said, wiping away a fake tear.

“Brain freeze. Did I forget to mention that?” Cherry laughed maniacally. 

“Am I gonna die?” Cherry snorted and grabbed the cherry one from his hands. She gave him the blue raspberry. 

“No, not yet, you’ve still got… maybe 7 years? 9 is pushing it.” She murmured between sips of the slush.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Rude, I'm in pain right now and you're laughing at me.”

Harry took the blue raspberry and, slowly, drank it. He didn't like the taste as much as the cherry. 

“It's just- It didn't taste real.” He said passing it back to Cherry for the Cherry slush.

“It's blue raspberry. It's not real.” She teased.

“Blue raspberries aren't real?” He said, his eyes wide with confusion.

“I wish.” She pouted and sighed. 

Cherry hopped up from her seat suddenly and went straight for the swings. Harry followed after her and they talked about fake fruits and other things. Cherry told him about artificial flavours and wondered where the hell kid went to school. 

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“I swear Harrys going to get it.” Dudley cracked his knuckles while walking to the corner store. He was with his little group of bullies. 

“What did he do again?” A taller boy smacked the kid who spoke upside the head. 

“Come on Piers! Keep up man, Harry took Duds girl!” Growled Dennis with his hand on his hip.

“Oh! Dudley had a girlfriend?” Piers got smacked again. 

Dudley sighed and walked through the door being opened by Millie. As he walked in he went straight for the hostess donuts and twinkies. He got the birthday cake flavour and the coffee flavour. The other boys were running around the place and messing around. He looked at the boy at the counter and sighed. 

“Hey dude, did you see a weird kid with a lightning bolt on his forehead in here?” The guy didn't respond. 

“Man, are you deaf or something?” Dudley reached over and snapped in his face, this got his attention. 

“What's your problem kid? You didn't put shit on the counter and I'm not here for small talk.” Jamie took out her headphones. 

“Damn his voice is high pitched…” Dudley thought as he smacked his food on the counter. 

“Did you see a freak with a lightning shaped scar come through here or not.” Dudley reached for his wallet.

“Depends. Did you see a sign on the twinkies that they are worth 5 bucks more?” She smirked and gave an innocent face.

“What? No?” Dudley said, confused.

“Well then I guess not.” Dudley groaned and slammed his hands on the counter. 

“Listen to me man, if you don't-” 

“I'm a girl, Dipshit.”

“Sure, As I was saying, if you don't tell me i’ll tell your manager that his counter man sucks at his job and should be fired.” Dudley smirked and attempted to fit his arms around his chest and look intimidating. 

“..go right ahead. I dare you.” She stood up smacking her hands on the counter and looked him in the eye. They had a stare off, and Dudley felt a little intimidated. He sighed and got out his dads wallet, instead of his, that he swiped. 

“How much.” He muttered.

“40.” She said, making Dudley roll his eyes.

“25.”

“30.”

“24.”

“50.”

“60.”

“Deal.”

Dudley angrily, without realising his mistake, got out 70 bucks. Jamie slipped it into her bra so he wouldn't be tempted to grab it again. 

“What did you wanna know again?” She said smiling.

“Did you see a kid with a lightning shaped scar come through here?” He repeated for what felt like the thirtieth time. Jamie went to answer but remembered Cherry was with him.

“He was with a super hot girl with red hair and like green tips and really big tits.” Jamie wanted to smack him over the head with her chair. 

“...”

Jamie thought about it for a second.. Cherry would understand. 70 dollars was a lot of money. 

“Yea, they went up the street to the field near the dog-park” She relented.

“..why? There’s nothing there?” Dudley remembered going up there once but being bored since nothing was there.

“Dawg I ain’t got no fuckin’ clue. Leave me alone.” She was running out of patience, which this kid would know nothing about running.

“Yea fuck you to man. Fuck you too.” He said, snatching his food and opening a Twinkie.

“Again. I'm a girl.” Jamie said exasperated and was tempted to shove the wrapper down his throat.

“And I’m a doctor.” He retorted.

“Explains why mortality rates have gone up..” 

Dudley grabbed the rest of his stuff and whistled to his group, then they went up to the park. He was pissed because he lost…

“50? No no no I lost 60 right? Wait- the original was 40! That’s bullshit..”

Millie pushed Jerr into the wall and he pushed back, they started fighting and Collin cheered him on. Dudley kept walking and hoped they were following. 

“Hey Duds! Calm down a little, we’ll get there! Harry’s not gonna do shit to her, boys a stuck up and way to shy!” Collin raced up to him and slung an arm over his shoulder. 

Even the thought of Harry touching his girl.. oh boy oh boy. He better keep his hands off of his property. The anger Dudley felt right now made him want to throw Piers off the bridge they were walking on. He settled for pushing his arm off him and kept walking. 

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“Just like that, Harry, super easy huh?” She held his legs up high in the air, ignoring his shaking.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up- let me down please!” 

Cherry let go of his leg, and he fell onto the wood chips. He pulled some of them out of between his fingers. The blood began rushing to other parts of his body now that he was out of the handstand. 

“And that’s how you do a handstand! I find that knowing how to do a handstand helps you learn how to do a cartwheel.” She said backing up to get a running start, then doing a cartwheel.

Harry nodded but was trying to catch his breath. He stood up and was excited to learn how to do a cartwheel. He saw it on tv once, Dudley was watching something called Britain talent or something, but hadn’t figured out how to do it. 

“Maybe doing it on the grass will be better..” Cherry took his hand and brushed away the wood chips. They both walked to the exit of the playground and walked down the steps. The second they stepped off the last step, they heard voices. 

“Hey, maybe they aren’t here! Maybe they went home already, it is pretty late out.” 

Cherry looked up at the sky, it had gotten pretty late. She was about to talk to Harry when they heard a familiar voice. 

“No- I know they are here! My daddy would have texted me if he got home. I told him to.” 

It was Dudley. 

“Oh my god.. he still calls his dad, daddy?” She wanted to laugh, but stopped herself. Harry looked over at her with a smirk, and sprinted along side her, but he stopped and almost fell over. 

“What about the stuff! We can’t leave it!” Harry turned and went to go back to the playground and get their stuff. They saw someone rounding the corner so Cherry grabbed his hand and they sprinted in the other direction. 

Since they had ditched their stuff to escape an interaction with Dudley, they missed something. 

The second the two had stepped off, the stairs had disappeared, as if the playground had know they were not going to return. Everything inside was preserved for the next time one of them went back. 

⋆.˚ ⚡︎ .⭒˚⭒. ⚡︎ ˚.⋆

The swings creaked and cried out for oil as they swung back and forth. Cherry was going up and down, whereas Harry was sitting still talking about plants or something. 

Oranges and pinks filled the sky as the sun began to hide itself behind the houses and horizon. Cherry stopped pumping the swing and let it calm down, staring up at the sky as if it had all the answers in life. 

Harry looked at her confused, obviously not sharing the same love for the sun. Sigh. 

“What are you doing?” He marveled at the way the light reflected in her eyes. Not in a romantic way though, he could just appreciate her beauty. 

“Shshshsh, it’s sunset!” Even though the sun was hidden behind clouds it still affected the sky, making a watercolor painting of the sky and a beautiful sight for anyone.

“It’s just a sunset.” 

“No sunset is just a sunset. All of them are amazing! They introduce the night, which deserves to be appreciated.” She declared with a grin and looked over at him. 

“The sunset does the greeting or the sun?” He leaned on the bar of the swing, content to hear her ramble about the sky with passion. 

“Well, the sunset of course, though the sun obviously plays the big part. The sun causes the sunset, which greets the night! The sun, amazing by the way, biggest star out there, stars! Oh don’t even get me started on stars!” She had a starry look in her eyes.

“That’s.. that really deep.” He mused and blinked slowly, yawning and stretching his arms. He had been listening, though half asleep. 

“…Do you think Gingers are a government social experiment?” 

“That is not so deep, Starry- uh, Cherry. But yea.. yea probably.” 

“Starry?” A feeling of Deja Vu flashed in Cherry’s mind, but she brushed it away, “I like that.” 

“It’s like the star scar on your face.” He gently poked at it and Cherry smacked his hand away. All she could do was flick his lightening scar in retaliation.

Cherry went back to swinging and continued rambling about Sunsets and how the clouds played a part in it too, but she made her way back to stars eventually. 

The sun had fully set so they started heading home. Cherry told him story’s or shared information about the many topics she knew. Harry listened to the information and tried his hardest to understand it, even though sometimes it was a bit difficult, he tried and Cherry knew that.

⋆.˚ ⚡︎ .⭒˚⭒. ⚡︎ ˚.⋆

When Harry got home his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin were waiting for him. A shiver ran through his spine at the sight of them sitting there, staring at him. Dudley was crying and holding onto his Aunt. His Uncle was fuming and red in the face. 

“You little.. boy, I’ve got half a mind to beat you out of your senses!” His Uncle stormed up to Harry pointing at him aggressively. Harry took a step back when he started to get too close. The wall behind he came much to face and he knocked into it, his Uncle towering over him menacingly.

“What did I do! I’ve done nothing!” A sob came from behind his Uncle and Harry looked over to see Dudley crying even more. 

“You know exactly what you did, you Devil!” The back of his Uncle’s palm flew towards Harry but he ducked making his Uncle miss him and hit the doorframe instead. 

“If this has to do with him, I’ve not seen him all day! I haven’t even been around him!” Harry exclaimed, trying not to cry.

“Yea but you’ve been with that watermelon girl!” His uncle screamed, fist clenched at his sides. 

“Cherry, dad! My girlfriend's name is Cherry!” 

“Girlfriend?!” 

Harry’s eyes were wide and he had to dig his nails into his palms so hard to stop himself from laughing. 

“Yea, my girlfriend. The hottest thing in the world, she- she’s mine! You stole her.” Dudley squinted his eyes, trying to look intimidating but they just went cross eyed.

“I’m sorry, but what? When- why?” Confusion was evident in his tone, as he couldn’t even form a proper sentence. Anger also started bubbling in him from Cherry being referred to as “thing”. Harry’s aunt had a voice crack while letting out a scowl, then her voice over took the room.

“You brat! Just go to bed, none of us want you here. Oh my poor baby boy..” His aunt pulled him in for a hug, pushing his face into her breasts. 

The walk away was painful with Harry holding his breath trying not to laugh. He opened the latch for the closet and slipped inside. He laid down on the pillow and placed the pack of mints on the shelf above him. He adjusted himself so he was more comfortable and laughed into the pillow. Not just at Dudley, but also about how he had the best day of his life. He laughed and smiled at the memories from a few hours ago, then went to bed when his uncle latched the door. 

⋆.˚ ⚡︎ .⭒˚⭒. ⚡︎ ˚.⋆

Cherry's mum was out at a party- forgetting her coat on the coat rack- and had left Cherry some food on the counter. The food had been wrapped up and put in the fridge for later. The living room had been picked up, all the new broken glass and spilled wine cleaned up and tossed. 

Up the stairs were small, some old, some new, scratches and holes in the walls from drunk stumbles and knives used as a threat from a person long gone. Somewhere in the corner of a party drowning in a bottle. The walk down the hallway to Cherry's room was short, only having a bathroom and an extra room on the way there. 

The bathroom held memory’s of tears in the mirror and vomit in the toilet. The guest room reminded Cherry of when her mom would have new “friends over.” If only the walls were thicker.

The door outside her room was plain for the most part, having Cherry written on a sparkly board nailed into the door. If you tried to open it right now there would be seven locks holding you back.

Inside, laid Cherry, on her floor staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were wide and not focusing on any one specific thing. The pupils were blown like a solar eclipse, and she breathed like she had no use for oxygen. 

Scattered on her vanity was an insert to a box cutter, a rolled up dollar bill and small white dust trails. 

Cherry didn’t have any thoughts right now. Cherry didn’t know what to think right now.

Cherry wanted to think about something. 

Maybe Cherry should breathe. 

Cherry tried to breathe, but Cherry could only smell the sickly sweet powder in the nose. 

Cherry felt pins and needles all around the body and couldn’t move the arms or the legs. 

Cherry tried to blink. Cherry thinks they blinked but the stinging stayed. 

Cherry wanted to cry. Cherry laughed. Why was Cherry laughing? Has someone said something funny? Did Cherry say something funny? Did Cherry-