Starstruck

“People will steal anything. Sometimes they don’t even know what they're stealing.”
Dan Istvan

“Maybe we should go buy some, like, lubricant? Just something to stop the squeaking?”

The swings made an awful noise as it shifted under Cherry’s feet. She stood on the swing, looking down at Harry for some unknown reason. The noise the swing made was hurting her ears worse than Dudley’s screeching when she dragged Harry away from that house again. He did it everytime and Cherry was getting kinda fed up with it.

“Mines not doing that, I think it’s because you're standing up so you're putting more weight on it?” He spoke as if he even knew what gravity was.

“Thank you, Benjamin Franklin.” She retorted with a chuckle.

“Who?”

“The guy who made gravity.”

“Huh?”

“Nevermind.”

She pushed her swing forward to propel it up, and let herself fall back. When she leaned back she pulled on the chains to not actually fall. She did this a few times to feel a falling sensation as the swing part where you're supposed to sit went up, which was normal, what was not normal was the ending sensation of falling.

Which was hitting the ground.

“Oh shi- you good?” Harry raced over to her side and kneeled by her. She got up and was totally fine. He helped her up and was fussing over her.

“I’m good- I’m ok! Thank you, Father!” She snickered as he rolled his eyes. He let her go and she fell once again.

“I wish I got a video of that, it was really funny.” He smiled and then heard Cherry gasp. He turned around expecting blood or a hurt expression from him making a jab at her, but was shocked to see a huge smile. He knew that smile. Last month she smiled like that when Dudley had gotten sunburned and had the word “cars” tanned into his back. Along with a penis.

“Oh god, no. No, whatever it is, no. I’m not going to jail.” He tried to walk away and get her scooter so he didn’t have to get in trouble.

“Oh don’t worry, we won’t get caught. Besides, you're too cute to go to jail! You’d go to juvie.”

That didn’t settle Harry’s terror at all. In fact Harry felt close to running away to France and getting himself a baguette.

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They walked down the street into town. Harry was much less sceptical of leaving his neighbourhood than he was 3 months ago. Cherry had even taken him to a few places outside of their town! They went to a place called Beavertail and watched the sunset over the ocean. She had brought him to loads of cool places that he may have never gotten to see before.

Cherry turned left, he had been practising his lefts and rights, and walked down a sidewalk to a small area with tons of stores.

“We are going to that one, it’s where I got my phone. Just follow along with me, and you can touch things but I don’t recommend it.” She didn’t want the cameras showing him touching things without buying anything. That’s something they looked for when something is stolen.

“Why? Do you need to get a new one?” Harry grabbed onto her arm like he did whenever going into stores because they scared him.

“Yea let’s just say that.” She said walking into the store.

The bell jingled when Cherry opened the door for him. It spooked him a bit which made Cherry laugh. She walked over to a counter, hips swinging and chest held high. Harry noticed that whenever they go to a store she acts differently with the cashiers and workers. Cherry says it’s “flirting.” Harry thinks she’s young and the people working are creeps.

“Hello, how can I be a service to you two young kiddos today.”

“Ew.” Harry and Cherry shared the same thought.

“Hey! So uh, I kinda fell off a swing,” She massaged her hand that was in a wrap slightly as if to draw his attention there, “And I landed on my phone! I don’t have any money, but could you look at it and see if anything is noticeably wrong? It’s absolutely fine if you can’t but..”

She crossed her arm under her chest and bit her cheek. The look on the cashier's face made Harry want to throw up. He knew how Cherry looked, though he never found her that attractive. She was only 9 but could easily be mistaken for 14-15.

This is because of the way she presents herself.

She wears clothes that are ripped and showing in the wrong places, has scars that make her look older than her years, and all the piercings she has. She’s got an eyebrow piercing that stands out the most, right above her raspberry coloured eye. It was a neon green colour that was a match of her neon pink belly button jewellery.

She had shown him one time when her industrial piercing had closed from being out for too long how she pierced them. She disinfected everything and had the right stuff but the needles looked so sharp and so scary. That was the most grown up thing he thinks she’s done, she didn’t even flinch as it went through her ear. Sometimes when he reflects back on it she seems to relax when the needle goes through, so he doesn’t think it was that bad for her.

Cherry leaned on the counter while still “chatting” with the man. One hand was stuffed under her breast, it was her drawing hand, and the other had her head stabilized, the arm that always had bandgages wrapped around it. It just barely covered up the star shaped scar on her cheek. He should ask her where she got that..

He ignored the scar and looked at the rest of her face. His Aunt Petunia was jealous that Cherry didn’t need to put on any blush cause her face is always kinda pink. It actually matched with the makeup she wore too! The makeup she wore was always sparkly and fun. Green and red makeup, sometimes light green and pink, and large eyeliner and mascara.

These were some things about her that made her look a bit more her age, like bright makeup or doodles on her hands.

She always had something on her hands. Her hand moved out of under her chest she laid it on the counter. The arm was littered with lots of drawings from the tips of her fingers all the way to her shoulders. Most of the small things drawn on her hand were born out boredom. Each drawing had their own personality; weather that be strict lines or spirals, sparkles or plain coloured, fun or mean, spunky or snazzy, Happy or sad, trying or giving up. Maybe they could be true creativity or maybe Harry was looking into it too much and Cherry was just bored.

“Thank you so much!” Cherry’s high pitch voice snapped Harry of his thoughts. He had a habit of spacing out like that, Cherry called it ADHD. The colouring book hand he was looking at grabbed his hand and began to walk him out of the store.

“Anytime, Sweetheart.” He felt Cherry’s disgust at the nickname as it went through her to him when she squeezed his hand hard.

They walked away without saying anything until they were walking back to their neighbourhood.

“..So, was your phone ok?” Harry let go of her hand and stuck them into his pockets.

“I knew it was fine, it was in my backpack when I fell.” She smiled at him and he wondered what made her so happy.

Cherry saw the confusion on his face, and laughed. She unzipped her jacket and reached under her shirt and into her bra.

“Ew, ew, ew stop ew.” Harry looked away in disgust. Despite that disgust he was curious so he looked.

Cherry held her phone without its phone case on. It also was missing all its scratches. It also was a bit smaller.. The Home Screen was different too..?

“Who’s phone is that?” Harry grabbed the phone from her hand and examined it, “Did they give you the wrong phone? We have to go back and get yours back!” He looked over at Cherry and was even more confused to see her holding her own phone. He knew this was her because it had scratches on the screen and the case. It was her case, it was a clear case with little Cherries on it and 5 dollars in the case. “If that's your phone.. whose phone is this?” Harry looked back at the phone in his hands.

“Yours, duh. I stole it for you!”

Harry blanked and was now non-responsive.

Cherry patted him on the back while taking the phone and putting it in her backpack.

“While I was talking to the guy, I snatched a broken-ish phone off his desk, slipped it into my bra while readjusting it. He just assumed I was being a flirt,” She grabbed his arm lightly to pull him right down their neighbourhood, “I'll bring it back to my house and fix it up for you. I'll connect it to my internet, and I've got a crap ton of phone cases for you to pick from. Or we could design one for you! Ooo, we could do that now!”

“Why?” Cherry was confused at the boy's breathless question. They were rounding the corner to the playground in their neighbourhood when she looked at him and saw tears welling in his eyes. She pulled him into a hug and he silently cried.

“Oh Harry..” She wiped away a tear that fell and pulled him over to the playground. He sat on the swing and she kneeled in front of him. She put one hand on his knee and one wrapped around his, hoping to be a comfort for him.

“Why would you- why,” He sucked in a breath and let out a silent sob. Cherry wondered how someone could cry so silent.. She had a few guesses.

“Just breathe harry, it's ok, you're ok, nothings wrong, you're not in trouble..” The words seemed to hit Harry and he called down a bit. She held his hand and wiped his tears as he cried.

“You.. You could have gotten arrested..” He breathed slowly and spoke with a low voice like a child.

“Eh, I’ve been arrested many times. Cops don’t care about a nine year old girl stealing a few things.” Harry laughed and wiped away his own tears.

“But.. why for me?” He questioned once again.

“Because I like you. Not- not like that. No offence but you're absolutely not my type.” Cherry looked him up and down. Harry was well aware of her lesbian status.

“Yea.. I'm not 40 years old.” He teased, but also felt kinda bad about it. He should talk to her about that, because it obviously made her uncomfortable.

“Touche,” She smiled and stood up, holding her hand out to him to pull him off the swing and into her arms. “Harry, I wasn't lying when I said you're my best friend. But.. I don't have many friends, so i'm not actually sure how to be one.

“I have one friend. She's doing great.” He smiled and looked at her dual-coloured eyes.

“Ooo, can I meet them?”

“It's you, Dumbass.”

“Whore.”

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The kitchen had the best airflow so Cherry immediately went there. Definitely not for the ice cold water or strawberries, the airflow. Cherry got a glass of ice water and Harry sat on the couch. She sat next to him while crunching on the ice. They chatted for a few minutes then they brainstormed ideas for his phone case.

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Not even like 30 minutes later Harry couldn't breathe and was rolling around on the ground and Cherry looked like she was seizing.

“No Dudley did not!! To Cars?? The show?? Oh my god, that's- that's diabolical.” She had a hand over her mouth pretending to try not to throw up.

Harry burst out laughing and nodded his head, “Yea, and I had to walk in on him doing that!” Harry started coughing from the laughter.

“You good?” She managed to breathe out. Harry clung to the table trying to stabilise himself.

“Yea- yea i'm good..” He looked up at her and the second his eyes met hers they both fell back into laughter.

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Petunia put down Dudley to get her keys for the car and lock it. Inside was some sort of screeching that she could only guess was Harry and that Cherry girl. She seemed to always be around, and was leeching her way into Harry's life. Harry was barely ever home now and she had to start picking up his chores for him. Vernon loved the girl, but neither of them liked how she was “hanging” with the little devil instead of her precious baby boy Dudley. He was in love with Cherry but Cherry seemed to not even notice him!

She locked the car and brough Dudley inside. She had an idea of how to get her to notice her baby Dudley.

“Harry! Could you come here!” Harry came to her quickly like the dog he was, and Cherry was left on the couch waiting for him.

Dudley waddled over to the couch and plopped down where Harry had been sitting. Cherry was fine with Harry sitting next to her because he smelled like grass and cleaning supplies, but Dudley? EUGH.

Cherry moved over a bit to give herself some breathing room but the stench of months without bathing invaded her nose once again.

The edge of the couch pressed against her side uncomfortably and she shifted around and looked for Harry. An arm wrapped around the back of the couch and Dudley pushed his face into her personal space.

“Hey.. I'm Dudley.” His voice attempted to mimic that of a chain smoker. The only thing he chain smoked were Snickers bars.

“So… Do you wanna make out?”

Cherry gagged and stood up quickly, knocking his arm off her and walking out to go find Harry. She wiped her shirt off with her hand and noticed a small chocolate stain. She called out Harrys name and saw him and his aunt talking. Well more his aunt talking and Harry listening.

“You need to be nicer to him! He's sensitive! I don't want you being anywhere near that girl again. She is lovely and a good person, and you- you'll infect her!” Cherry took a deep breath and stepped back a bit, then walked putting more emphasis in her step to make them louder.

“Hey Harry? Hey! There you are!” Harry breathed out a sigh of relief, but the look from his aunt said they would talk about it lager. Cherry recognized the look and quickly blurted out the first thing she thought of.

“I need your help.” His aunt looked confused but went back to the dishes trying to not look like she was listening in.

“My mum just texted she's going on a work trip and I was hoping you could stay over and help me.. Uh.. feed my cats?” Cherry said it just loud enough for Harry's aunt to hear it. She didn't even need to turn around to see the scowl and the shaking of the head.

“Uh… Aunt petunia?” Cherry turned around to see her expression, she had to hold back a sneer at the annoyance on her face.

“Yes, Harry?” Her face contorted in a way that was meant to be threatening, but not noticeable to Cherry.

It was noticeable to Cherry.

“Could I stay with Cherry for a day or two.. She needs some help at home.. And uh.. her Mums out on a work trip so..” His aunt sighed and reluctantly nodded her head.

“Fine. Just for a few nights though. And Cherry dear, if you need anything don’t be afraid to ask.” Cherry smiled wide and grabbed Harry's arm to bring him out of the house. While they were leaving, Cherry went to grab her bag and told Harry to go get whatever he needed. She went back into the living room which was now Dudley free to grab her backpack.

She stood by the door and waited for Harry to finish packing.

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Harry was upstairs panicking.

“I don't actually have anything I need to grab! Maybe a toothbrush.. Uh.. some clothes.. God, what do people normally bring to sleepovers? Oh my god.. This is my first sleepover!”

Cherry checked the time on her phone and was thankful that her mum had left down just at the right time. She will be home in a few days though. She looked up and smiled at Harry running down the steps with a small bag.

“Ready?” Cherry opened the door and held it for him.

“Uh.. yea I think so.” He walked out and when he got to the steps his feet malfunctioned and made him do a double step sort of thing. He fell down the stairs and just continued to roll down the driveway because he didn’t want to get up.

“Harry! Stop rolling away- hey! Get back here!” Cherry was laughing and chasing after him.

When she caught up to him she helped him sit up, “Are you good?? Any broken bones- concussion, oh no! Harry, your glasses!” She helped him up then grabbed his glasses off the ground. “Ok, uhm, let’s go to my house and get you patched up, and while we’re at it I’ll find some tape for your glasses.”

Harry saw the dent in the bar that went across his nose. The glasses had been broken and dented more times than he could count so he wasn’t too concerned about it. They got to Cherry's house and left their shoes at the front door.

Cherry silently thanked her past high self for cleaning the house like a neat freak when her mom had left a week ago.

“I’m making food, you cool with pesto pasta? It’s really good!” Cherry walked to the kitchen. It was nothing fancy but it had the necessities.

“I’d love it, never had it though.” Harry murmured, he went over and sat down on a chair at the counter while Cherry started boiling water. Harry was so excited to be over at a friend's house for a sleepover but he was super scared too. He’d never been at another person's place before and was a little worried.

While the water was boiling Cherry hopped on the counter and sat Criss Crossed. She could sense his nervousness and was trying to think of ways to calm him down.

“Wanna watch a movie?” The remote was already on the counter so she reached over and turned on the tv. They had a pretty nice TV, Samsung, it did have a small crack in the corner. Cherry found it while in an alleyway looking for her mum. She let him pick the movie, after giving him a quick tutorial on how to use the remote. He chose the first thing that popped up which was Beauty and the Beast.

Cherry grabbed the remote and clicked off of it.

“Hey! What’s wrong with it?” He pouted and looked at her with a stink eye.

“You have to watch the live action one, Whore. Umma Thotson is so hot in this.” Harry rolled his eyes and half watched the TV and half watched Cherry cooking. He started paying attention when the songs started playing.

Pasta was finished in around 30 minutes and she sang along to the songs. Harry didn’t know them, but he was loving it cause he didn’t get to listen to music a lot. When Cherry had finished her food she danced along to the music and Harry filmed her because he could now. Cherry was singing along while dancing with an imaginary partner when she saw him filming her.

“Oh my god- I’m gonna break your phone.” She went to hit him with a pillow.

“Wait I have food! You can’t hit me!” He pulled his bowl into his lap so she couldn’t get him, lest pesto got everywhere.

“Later.” She gave him a side eye before immediately going back to singing along.

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Dudley sat on the couch sulking. He fidgeted with a chocolate wrapper and wondered where he went wrong! His mum sat by his side and comforted him. He held her hand as she went on and on about how Cherry was just playing hard to get.

“I mean, I introduced myself, and I was straightforward about my feelings!” He ripped the candy bar open and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. The chocolate slid down his throat still whole and satisfied him. He grabbed another one, and repeated the action of deepthroating the chocolate before it slid down his throat, melted. He slid off the couch just as the chocolate did down his saliva coated throat, and planted his face into the carpet. He let out a few sobs and cried. Suddenly he started shrieking.

“Cherry! My love! Please! I’ll wait for you to get over that damn Harry, please, I’ll wait a million years- Is a million a lot?” He tried to look up at his aunt but his neck wouldn’t let him. “I mean maybe I’ll wait a year or two but.. a billion seems like a lot.”

“I thought you said a million?” She mused, grabbing a candy bar off of the table and passing it down to him.

“Yea, I did.” He took the candy bar and opened it behind his back as he didn’t want to get up. He had a skill of being able to open candy bars no matter how. He would get to his damn prize. The candy bar was placed on the carpet in front of him and he grabbed it with his teeth and used his tongue to drag it into his mouth. The carpet brushed against his tongue in a way that was a comfort to him. His aunt placed another open candy bar in front of him and he commanded her to do this until he felt better.

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Cherry tossed the dishes into the sink and ran back over to where Harry was attempting to put back in a jenga piece without glasses on.

“No!! No more to the left!” She yelled as she came back over and sat down on the couch. The TV was playing Yogabbagabba. He moved right and knocked down the tower.

“Fiddlesticks!” He shouted as it all crashed down. He grabbed his glasses that had a small bit of medical tape wrapped around the piece that went on his nose. It was the only kind Cherry had.

“Just say fuck- just ok.. repeat after me. Fuck.” She said slowly with her hands in a sort of conductor movement.

“Ffff…fudge.” He smirked and looked up at her. She looked like she wanted to shoot him.

“Fuck.”

“Fork.”

“Fuck you.”

“Freak you.”

Cherry gave up.

She stood up and went over to the counter where the phone case was. It was drying as they had used superglue to add something.

The phone case was a red base, with rhinestones around the edges. Red and yellow, in an alternating pattern. There were small stickers and stuff, then a torn book page that was overlapped by the letters H and P in a pretty font that had been printed out. It was drying because the little dangly thing had to be super glued on. It was a string of black beads with small lighting bolts and a small chain. It also had a black lightning bolt and a black star charm. The accessory mirrored the one they made for Cherry's phone. Hers had a string of black beads with star charms, and a small chain of hearts. She had a white star and a white lightning bolt.

She ran up to her room and grabbed the phone she had stolen for him and brought it down. She also grabbed two monsters from her Not-Stolen Mini Fridge. When she came down Harry was on the couch flipping through more shows and movies. Cherry came from behind him and snatched the remote out of his hands. She clicked out of Netflix and onto YouTube.

While flipping through videos she passed the monster over to him, and he looked at it confused.

“What is it?” He examined the pretty can. It had a nice outside with lots of detail, the can actually reminded Harry of Cherry.

“Ultra Rosa?” The TV began playing music. It was Cherry's playlist, so it was Lady Gaga, Chappell Roan, TV girl, and a bunch others. So basically just good music. Harry’s hands continued to trace over the can, and he attempted to read the words but couldn’t understand anything the can said except for a few select words.

“I’ve never had a.. Monster Energy drink?” Cherry gasped and moved to where he was and grabbed her drink.

“Oh my gosh, they are so good! They do have caffeine, which makes you a bit hyper, but they are so amazing.” She held hers up and opened it with a satisfying pop. She took a sip of it and was happy with the red berry taste.

Harry did the same and shook his hand after opening it as he used his nail which hurt. He looked over at Cherry because he was a little worried about it, but she smiled at him which made him feel less worried. He took a sip and his eyes went wide.

“Oh woah.. how does everything you give me to drink always taste amazing!” The sips he took were small, as last time he was given a drink he drank it way too quick and got a brain freeze.

She continued drinking and reached over to his can, “Since this is your first monster I've got to do something real quick!” She popped the can tab off of his and her cans, then grabbed the superglue. Harry attempted to read along with the lyrics to the song “Teenage dream” by Katy Perry and continued to drink the monster. It stung his throat a bit which he didn’t like, but the taste was nice and it was starting to make him feel a bit more energetic.

Cherry held up her creation, a heart made out of the can tabs! The one from his was a black tab and hers was green, Harry thought they went very well together. She grabbed some elastic string that she used to make the phone accessories and strung it onto a necklace. She paused, then looked over at Harry.

“Do you wanna make friendship necklaces?” She looked absolutely ecstatic.

Harry nodded his head and giggled as she ran out of the room. When she came back she had tons of beads of all sorts and string. She continued on the one she was making and he got some string for her. He went over to her and pushed her hair out of the way to wrap the string around and find what would be the best fit.

Cherry let him do this while she finished his necklace. She made it with red and yellow beads and then a few of the leftover lighting bolts and stars. She saw that Harry was doing the same thing except with different coloured beads; red and green. He grabbed the last of the charms and put them on. When they were done they swapped necklaces and both of them loved them.

Cherry’s complimented her other necklace and choker. Her choker was a twin of her mother, a diamond hanging from the middle of a plain black semi-stretchy band. Her other necklace was the snake with eyes that mirrored Cherrys. Harry was looking at the necklace and thought it was very cute.

“I thought you were gay?” She gave him a smug look. Harry realised it looked like he was staring right into her shirt.

He waved his hands and laughed, “oh god no! Ew, I was looking at your necklace. Also you're gay, not me.”

“Twenty bucks says you are.” Cherry crossed her arms and held her hand out. Harry shook it then broke out into laughter.

“Maybe you can buy me another monster when I win.”

“Right. Sure.” Cherry wouldn’t be giving him SHIT.

“If you figure out your gay in the next.. 10 years. You owe me 20. After 10 years I'll give you 20. K?”

Harry thought about that for a second making sure she wasn't using her words to trick him. He remembered the time she said, “20 bucks says you wont jump into the river.” He jumped right in, and she said she never clarified who would get the 20 dollars. She didn't actually make him give her the money but it was still embarrassing. After thinking it over he agreed and shook her hand.

Cherry smiled and grabbed his phone off the table once again, she gave him a quick tutorial and downloaded a few apps.

“Ok, i've already got a backup TikTok account made you can use, then i'll add you to my Youtube Music, my mama got premium a few years ago and never got rid of it. And lastly but not leastly I'll give you my number..” A few clicks and she passed him the phone. He flipped it over in his hands a few times and got scared when it buzzed. He clicked on the notification which took him to a white screen and Cherry's name at the top. He clicked on the item sent and it was a video of him looking at the phone like it was a puzzle. He looked over and rolled his eyes as Cherry pointed the camera at him.

Cherry gave him some time to get adjusted to his phone and learn the ins and outs of it. When he felt he had gotten the hang of it, he looked over at her. While Harry was exploring she had taken off most of her jewellery and makeup. She wore the necklace he gave her, but she still wore her choker and her necklace.

“Hey uh.. what's with those two? I've never seen you without them, are they special?” He pointed at her accessories. She wore lots of necklaces but those two were always featured in every outfit.

“Oh, have I not told you?” She reached behind her hair and unclipped both. She held her first one out to him, the black choker.

“My father got me and my mom matching ones. Mine says Felica Equila Wood on the inside, hers says Cherry Crux Wood.” She passed it over to him and sure enough embroidered in a dark grey that practically blended in with the black leather was her mothers name.

“That's beautiful..” He smiled as he handed it back over to her. She gently lifted her other necklace.

“This necklace here, is the most important thing in the world to me.” She held it up carefully and reluctantly let him hold it. She held it over to him and felt a bit scared, but was relieved to see him shake his head.

Harry could tell she didn’t want him to hold it so he wasn’t going to make her. She held it out for him to look at. The base of it looked black but was a very dark green snake, with one mossy green eye and bloody red eye.

“It matches your eyes, cherry.” He looked up at her, then down at the necklace again. Its green eye suddenly went black and then green again. It just winked at him! He looked up at Cherry, she looked at him, he looked at Cherry, she looked at him.

“Uh….. Her name is silly.”

“Pause.”

“Unpause.”

“Pause. Did she just wink?”

“Prolly just your eyes playing tricks…?”

“…”

“…”

A beat or six went past before Harry sighed and took off his glasses to clean them. He gave up as he didn’t want her to think he was crazy.

“Yea I need a new prescription.”

Cherry held back a sigh of relief as she didnt want him thinking he had gone insane.

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Harry woke up first and checked his phone, “his phone!!!,” to see it was around 3:90. He rubbed his eyes and saw that it was actually 9:30, his eyes were terrible in the morning. He figured it was so late in the morning because they went to bed around 12 or 1am after playing video games. Minecraft first and Hello Neighbour after Harry rage quit Minecraft.

“Like what is a “creeper?” I’d bet so much money that thing wasn’t real..” He grumbled as he went to use the bathroom. Before even stepping in he was hit with vanilla. He looked around and saw a diffuser that was spewing vanilla scent around the bathroom.

“Damn that’s strong, wow. Smells amazing too.” He went to actually use the bathroom but stopped at the counter. There was a small orange bottle that was opened and filled with small white pills.

The bottle was surrounded with a sort of powder, he dragged his fingernail on the counter and a small bit of white powder perched on the edge of his nail.

He washed his hands from the powder and looked at the bottle again. His uncle had a few of them for his ankle after he broke it. The label on it had Cherry's name on it, spelled wrong though. They spelt it Cherri Would. He felt bad for reading it but he was curious. The pills were.. he rubbed his eyes and tried to read it again but gasped as looked through the mirror and Cherry leaning on the door frame.

“Sleep meds.” Harry turned around and felt his heart jump out of him. He realised he hadn’t closed the door as he was too focused on the vanilla.

“I uh.. I was just curious, s-sorry..” Cherry walked around him and took the bottle and put it in her pocket.

“I don’t mind, I am an open book.” Cherry grabbed the hairbrush off the counter and smiled at him, “I’m gonna start on breakfast. You cool with bacon, egg, and cheese on bagels?” Harry nodded and waved bye as she walked away. He gently kicked the door closed behind her and turned around again to look in the mirror.

“Oxycodine..? I don’t think that’s what that said, was it?” He cursed his shitty morning eyesight and grabbed his phone. He looked up the name but got nothing.

He scrolled down and saw a picture and it was what it looked like, little white pills with a slit through the middle. He read that it was called Oxycodone, not codine. It was used for pain though, not sleep. He stopped reading after that as he felt it was an invasion of privacy. He couldn’t help his thoughts though.

“Why would she lie? If the pills are for pain and not sleep, what kind of injury did she feel the need to hide?” He washed his hands again and splashed some water on his face, “Well hold on, did she lie? Maybe she had some sort of pain that she needed to take the pills for, so she could sleep.” Harry felt good about that conclusion but bad that she felt the need to hide an injury from him. He put his phone back in his pocket before continuing with his morning.

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Cherry silently ran up to her room, unlocked it, and tossed her pills onto her bed.

“Oh god- oh god on no, no no no…” She pushed her hand under her mattress and grabbed out a few bottles till she pulled one labelled oxazepam. She put her oxycodone back under her bed and put the other ones into her pocket. She would drop them onto the ground while cooking, and when he picked them up he would see they were sleeping pills.

“What if he already read them and looked it up?”

She attempted to ignore the thoughts and just go cook. “Maybe you're making this more difficult than it needs to be. He probably took your explanation or he just doesn't care, why would he care? You being unable to bear life because you're a bitch doesn’t matter to him.” She spoke sarcastically and Cherry felt inclined to laugh, “Trust me, if you do this it will just get worse. He’ll have more questions, and you have to answer.”

Cherry sighed and listened to the thoughts. She wasn't always there. She stuck around for a day or two after Cherry used something psychoactive. Suddenly she remembered she had to make breakfast so she pushed the pills back under her mattress and went downstairs. She massaged her cheek scar and rubbed Silly’s head, the gemstone eyes a nice pressure on her fingertips. Both actions she found comfort in but at the same time made her feel comforted no matter what was wrong, even for just a few moments. She took a deep breath went to make breakfast.

She turned on the stove and went to the fridge. She got out the bacon and cheese, tossing both of them onto the counter, then she grabbed the eggs and a half stick of butter. She unwrapped the butter and tossed it into the pan.

She heard Harry footsteps behind her and turned around. She smiled and waved at him.

“Morning princess, why are you still in the same clothes as yesterday?” She put a few pieces of bacon into the pan, then got out a metal spatula.

“I uh, I didn’t have any other clean clothes.” He rubbed the back of his neck and stepped into the kitchen. He grabbed a cutting board, a knife, and two bagels and began to cut them.

“I’ll be back in a sec, keep an eye on the bacon.”

The spatula was passed to Harry and he abandoned the bagels to step in front of the bacon. A small bit of grease splashed onto his arm, and he wiped it away quickly as it burned.

She came down just as quickly as she went up, and she had a pair of clothes in her hands.

“Here, go put this on!” She took the spatula from his hand and he took the clothes and went to the bathroom. He felt a bit bad about living in her house and using her clothes..

Cherry had already started on the eggs and the bagels were in the toaster when he came out.

It was black, ripped, bell bottom jeans and a black crop top that had weed leaves on the sleeves.

“Ah! It looks so cute!!” She flipped the eggs and he sat at the counter and laid his head in his hands.

The bagels dinged and she assembled the sandwiches.

“What is the plant on this? I think I saw it at one of the shops in town, the one next to the boba place?” He fidgeted with a piece of his hair.

“It’s a weed plant.” Cherry snickered and passed him his breakfast while eating her own, “Do you care about that? Like smoking and stuff?”

Harry shook his head. Cherry hopped up onto the counter and leaned her head on the windowsill as she finished her breakfast.

“My aunt smokes sometimes. I kinda like the smell cause when she does smoke she’s always calmer which means good things..” Harry realised what he said sounded kinda bad so he went to fix his statement but blanked as he saw Cherry already had a pack of cigarettes out and was lighting one.

“Where… where did that come from?” He laughed and grabbed his sandwich.

“My tits.” She said holding the white and orange stick between her teeth as she lit the lighter. She took the box and put it back into the breast pocket of her jacket.

“Oh! Fun!” His voice was laced with sarcasm. He felt a bit awkward as she smoked and he ate his bagel, “uh.. can I have one?”

“God no, you’ll hurt your lungs. You aren't allowed to do drugs, it's super bad for you.” She took a long drag of her cigarette and blew the smoke out the window. Harry felt a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to pretend to do drugs. Or actually do them, that would be worse.

He then laughed and looked out the window to the sky, “That’s not hypocritical at all.” He rolled his eyes and glanced at Cherry.

“Yea yea yea, call me a hypocrite, but you don’t get drugs. This stuff kills you,” Harry didn’t want to think about the implications of that, “You can, however, have some lemonade?” She tilted her head at the fridge. She hopped off the counter without waiting for his answer and got out two cups.

“You know, you don’t have to like… house me?” Cherry looked behind her with a confused face.

“…huh?”

He sat up straighter and fidgeted with the hem of the shirt, “Well your letting me sleep here, feeding me, giving me clothes, lemonade-”

“-oxygen to breath, making sure your bloods circulating, signals being sent to your brain, atoms to make up your body…? Need I go on?” She placed a cup in front of him and filled it to the top with lemonade, then hopped back up on the counter and put the cigarette back in her mouth. He grabbed the lemonade and began to drink it while she blew smoke out the window.

“I get it, basic necessities, but it’s not your job to-“

Cherry heard spilling and pulled her head out of the window. She lightly smacked it on the top when pulling her head out which made her drop the cigarette onto the stones below. When she looked over at Harry she saw him standing and soaking wet with lemonade. The glass that had been full was everywhere.

“..oh…my… god!!” She cackled and fell off the counter laughing. He grabbed a towel from a hook and instead of cleaning up he threw it at her. It hit her lemonade drink and it fell off the counter right onto her.

She screamed and coughed while wiping her face, “It's in my nose!” She laughed manically and grabbed the towel again to wipe her face quickly before grabbing one end and whipping it at him.

He jumped back but slipped on the lemonade.

She saw him fall and lunged at him, but he grabbed her and pushed her to the side. She rolled into the couch and grabbed a pillow. She ran at him and tried to hit him with it. He tried to run but his socks were wet so he kept slipping. Cherry was choking on her laughter and gasping for air as she ran. He grabbed a couch cushion and threw it at her, she dodged and threw one at him.

Harry dodged but his foot slipped and he fell forward. His face was heading for the floor but Cherry saw this, and a pillow from the couch moved quicker than Cherry could react and place itself under his face so he fell onto the pillow.

Her eyes widened, seeing it fly through the air with her hand directing it was so strange. She thought she was just high but she had only had a cigarette today? Why does this keep happening..

Her thoughts were quickly cut off by the same pillow being Frisbee’d right into her face.

⋆.˚ ⚡︎ .⭒˚⭒. ⚡︎ ˚.⋆

Dudley stood at the window with tears streaming down his face. He had been watching cars while putting on lotion (those two events are related) in his room when he saw smoke in the air. He looked out his window and Cherry had been leaning on the window looking pretty like the doll she was.

Dudley was enchanted, untill he saw a rat sitting across from her. He went downstairs to ask his mom why Harry was over there but he hadn’t like the answer of “I couldn’t say no to her” so he stormed away after smacking her coffee onto the floor.

Right now Cherry and that demon Harry were having a pillow fight! She was on top of him while hitting him with the pillow over and over again. It kinda looked painful.. but it should still be him! Harry threw her but she got up and slammed a pillow down where he had been. He rolled away, right into a chair. Dudley laughed at him getting hit in the face with a chair leg. Harry clutched his nose and Cherry timed out to see if he was ok. Harry nodded his head then smirked. He dove at her legs and Cherry fell backwards, with Harry wrapped around her legs as she tried to get free.

“This is bullshit! She should be mine but that freak of nature got his grubby little paws on her before I could!” He dumped more lotion onto his hands and rubbed it on his elbows.

⋆.˚ ⚡︎ .⭒˚⭒. ⚡︎ ˚.⋆

Cherry got away, still holding onto her pillow, and got up quickly to dodge Harry going for her legs again. He threw a pillow at her like a ninja star and she jumped onto the couch to dodge it. Harry fell to one knee and was breathing heavily. He grabbed a paper towel off the counter and waved it high above his head.

“Fuck yea, bitch! Rahhh!” She jumped on the couch while spinning the pillow above her head. Harry fell to both knees and laughed, she hopped off the couch and went over to him. She came to check if he was ok but couldn’t stop laughing so she just fell into him. They both got knocked to the floor, side by side.

Harry caught his breath first and spoke in a crackling voice, tired from yelling and laughing.

“Round two?”