"I stopped him right before Quidditch practice! I hinted about the Yule Ball and he totally missed it. So then I laughed at him in my head and just asked him and he said yes and I have a hot date!"
"I got an unsigned owl asking me to the ball," Miranda says. "But I sent back a polite refusal. Even if I were going to take a date I wouldn't want to take one who I didn't know who they were."
"It wouldn't matter, I'm not going to dance and I'm not going to bring a date. It'd just maybe affect how I phrased that if someone interesting asked."
"Is there someone interesting?" Alli asks curiously. "Are we, hah, going to to wind up fighting over Quidditch players? Cause you're wicked famous and I need warning, if we're doing that."
"I do not anticipate overlap in our interests. Nobody's particularly caught my eye. Maybe I'm a late bloomer."
"Me neither," Emma chimes in, "and, uh, we're only third years? I think that makes us kinda normal bloomers."
"Hey. You all right?"
"She-" Vivian almost says "is kind of going with you, isn't she, just as friends?" but that seems way too much like salt in the wound and she stops herself. "-wouldn't do that to you," she settles on instead. "She's not that mean. She's not like Alli with her weird need for a cute date."
She tries to make it sound like a gentle joke. But she's a tiny bit (a lot) invested in the answer, so she hopes she actually managed.
"I, well, forever's a long time." Snort. "She probably doesn't want me alone forever either."
"Like I said. Good friend." Then, feeling like the 'friend' thing is maybe rubbing it in more, she changes tack. Karen looks so sad. Vivian misses her smile. "Is there anything I can do? A hug or something?"