Fake Friends Steal Reputations

Piper could not be sure- from simply lack of social experience- but she was beginning to think Darius was losing his interest, which meant her opportunity was rapidly slipping through her pale fingers. She kept her grey eyes cold and unfathomable, while her brain whirled and the gears began tumbling around. This game was different from her usual type.

The way these sorts of situations typically went for Piper was that she would do her best to try and push the other party involved as far away from her as possible, keep them very much estranged from her. But she had come to a situation where she could not push someone away, she had to use their help. But they were someone who would not simply help her, he was sure to want something in return and it may be something she stood against.

In order to manipulate him, she had to be open to being manipulated. And that fact absolutely did not sit well with Piper.

He changed the subject and she listened to him before shrugging. “I’m not sure. I find most people at Hogwarts rather tiresome, you know. If you work it right, you really don’t need to be around them much, you can get the things you need and then continue on your way. It’s much more efficient and a lot less painful. Hogwarts students and chronic migraines are sort of synonymous for me.”

Darius was almost bored such was his lack of surprise at the girl’s answer to his question. If pressed, he likely would have given a similar answer to the same question – the people at Hogwarts were boring – but at least he would have tried to sound less whiny about it. This girl seemed to have taken issue with everyone, which made Darius wonder briefly why she was bothering to talk to him… until he remembered he was awesome.

How could I forget? Darius thought with a fleeting, smug smirk.

His latest brilliant idea to try to use Piper as a means to get back in Athena’s good graces seemed to be hitting a wall before it even got running. At this point, Darius had heard enough from the girl to almost wish he had physically run into a wall instead of just having wasted 15 minutes talking to her. She had started off mildly interesting because she challenged him, but now she was getting to sounding like a broken record of a song no one really liked in the first place. She wasn’t going to sleep with him, and she wasn’t serving the other purpose Darius had dreamed up for her.

Do or die time.

“Well in my experience, when you consistently experience a problem, you need to look for the common denominator,” Darius said pragmatically, as though handing out life’s little wisdoms were a pastime of his, “And in your case, everyone you interact with gives you problems. But since I know for certain there are at least a handful of worthwhile people at Hogwarts, and because I am capable of seeing your situation from an objective point of view, I’m going to enlighten you.

“When you don’t get along with anyone at all, the problem probably isn’t with everyone else,” Darius said point blank, staring at Piper, not as though he were challenging her, but as though there were nothing she could say to defend herself. Like the conversation was already over, and to Darius, it was. He was bored, and probably not going to get what he wanted out of this situation, which was always his cue to leave.

“So as fun as this has been, I’m going to bounce,” Darius said, standing up and brushing invisible dirt from the back of his pants, “Have fun doing… whatever it is you do,” Darius said dismissively, turning from Piper as he prepared to go find someplace else to entertain himself.

Piper really did not like how much he made sense, how much he made her doubt herself. She had often wondered if it really was just her. At first, her feelings against others had been wholly justified. She had been hurt and torn down and treated badly. She had never been given a chance, so she stopped giving them too. At first it was just defensive action, keeping her safe, and sane, and happy.

But she no longer felt any of those things. She felt constantly under threat, she felt paranoid and frightened, and she was too bitter to feel even a shred of happiness. She knew with safety came sanity, and with sanity came happiness. She just need shelter. She needed to know that she had eyes watching her so she did not have to be panicked. She needed a group of people to watch out for her. And her target group would be perfect. And her only access to said group was losing interest in her.

He began to walk away, which was typically the very thing Piper wished to get. But she needed his help, there was no denying it now. He seemed to know what was wrong with her. She was going to have to give in to his will. He had what she needed. She stood and called, “So , it’s me!” She paused and shrugged, a little embarrassed she had admitted it. “What do I do then? You seem to know everything,” these words were partially snide, partially stroking his ego, partially her own opinion. “What do I do to relax and make sure I’m not going to be used, then?”

Darius had only gotten a few steps away from her when Piper raised her voice to stop him. Like clockwork… Darius thought with a smirk, his back still turned so Piper wouldn’t see how predictable she had just been. People who were slaves to their emotions and the approval of others were so easily formed by those who lived above such things, and Piper had just proven Darius’ point. He took only a few more steps before hesitating – just for show, of course – and then turning around to face the embarrassed blond girl behind him.

The older boy crossed his arms over his chest as Piper asked him for his advice, sinking herself to a new low in this situation. She was already groveling, bringing herself down a few pegs by even asserting that she wanted Darius to stay when he was so ready to leave, but Darius wasn’t going to sugar coat this conversation just for her benefit. Everything he had said to Piper was true; that was why she had been so stung by it. Most times, Darius didn’t even need to make up stories about the people he wanted to intimidate; the truth was a far better weapon, especially when your victim didn’t know you had the power to wield it.

“Get used to the fact that you’re going to be used,” Darius answered curtly, taking two steps back toward Piper to look down on her over the bridge of his nose, “The idea that anyone can have true friends is a romanticized notion propagated by optimists. No one is truly altruistic; we’re all in it for something. Whether it is popularity, protection, adoration, or not having to eat alone in the Great Hall, we’re all using each other for something. That’s what friendship really is: a decision that you are okay with being used, as long as the using is mutual.”

This was the truth that no one wanted to see. Human beings liked to believe they were good and righteous, that they weren’t the type of people who manipulated and cheated to get ahead. But the truth was, every single person thought of himself as number one; some people were just more direct about it than the general population. Darius paused at this point to give Piper a moment to take in the knowledge he had just given her before adding a small caveat to his wisdom.

“So essentially, just make sure you are getting more out of the deal than you are giving, and you’ll be fine,” Darius added, raising an eyebrow to challenge Piper to contradict what he was saying. On the whole, people didn’t want to believe the things Darius told them, because the truth was a hard pill to swallow. But if Piper wanted to know the trick to getting along with people, Darius had just given it to her: lower your expectations.

Piper was not sure how he had done it, but Darius had managed to make Piper everything she hated. Dependent, shamefully needy, ignorant, and weak. Somehow, this boy had managed to turn all the tables on her to reduce her to nothing. She was not sure how. She simply could not play games with him, could not get the upper hand, and she hated it. She hated it with every fiber of her being, hated him to an extent for managing to do it.

She had to learn how he did it.

At first, she thought she had put herself out there to be ignored, but he turned around and finally moved towards her. She stayed rooted to the spot, the first show of real strength she had exhibited. At his words she opened her mouth to argue- had she not been living her life to prevent just that? But he was right and she knew it. So she closed her mouth and nodded.

He continued on and she found that she completely agreed with his words. Friends was not a concept that Piper believed in. She had no friends. She knew that friends were fake, they were illusions, so she never sought out to gain them. At the end of his explanation of friends, one she could fully iunderstand and agree with, she jerked her head in a nod.

But she had not learned anything yet...

And he continued on. She began to understand, began to face the truth of what his words meant. She would trust these words as truth. Obviously, he knew something about people, having managed to turn her character inside out in one meeting. For someone who never trusted anyone, Piper knew that this wisdom from this dark boy was to be trusted.

To survive, to survive comfortable, she had to give up some of her power to get the power she was really lacking. That meant trying to relate to people, or pretending to. That meant becoming friendly with people, or pretending to. he finished and she nodded thoughtfully. "It's all a negotiation, then." she said, more of a summation than a question. "Pretending just the right amount to let them fake the other part."

She could fake it, she was pretty sure.

At first, it looked as though Piper was going to butt in and try to tell Darius that he was wrong about the world, that his perception was skewed, but for once in this conversation, she made the right move and shut her mouth. From that point forward, she did nothing but nod in what Darius interpreted as either agreement or acceptance, both of which were just about the same from where he was standing.

“Exactly,” Darius responded when Piper gave her own summary of what he had just said, raising an eyebrow for added inflection. “Everyone is faking it to some extent or another, so there’s really no harm in you joining the party,” he added, not clarifying that the person who was always faking it most in any situation was yours truly. Darius didn’t have any of the human emotions or mannerisms he was constantly mimicking for the sake of flying under the creeper radar that was built into normal humans. He had spent a good deal of time figuring out just how far he had to go to be accepted by the general population – or at least the part of it that mattered – and then not going any further than that. Darius only worked as hard as he had to when it came to fitting in with other people. He would much rather let them adapt to fit in with him.

“So if you can get with that program, you shouldn’t have any trouble,” Darius said, brushing a hand casually back through his hair as he gave Piper the once over again. For as petty as she had been throughout this conversation, she had accepted one of Darius’ more blunt philosophies in stride. He could use someone with that type of mentality to help him prove to his former cohorts that he wasn’t as bad as they were claiming him to be. Having Piper around shrugging her shoulders at all the bold things Darius was saying would make the rest of them look like idiots for taking it so personally.

Yeah, that just might work.

“Now all you need is a good chance to employ your new found knowledge,” Darius said probingly, looking down at Piper and feigning thoughtfulness, which was ruined by his deep smirk, “Though with the number of people you’ve already scared away with your angsty ‘I hate everyone’ stance, there may be very few options remaining.”

Darius affirmed that she had understood all he had said. She had understood it rather well, honestly, because it only confirmed what she had darkly suspected of people her entire life. She did not romanticize the human experience, she did not think love was something feasible, she did not expect a perfect life, and she knew that everyone was a hypocritical lying fake when it came right down to it, plucking at the strings of their lives and trying to make the outcome better in their favor. She had long known that this was the nature of those she was surrounded by and up against.

The thing that was testing Piper was the way Darius was instructing her to deal with this fact of life, this fact of life she did not question but certainly did not condone. She had spent her life, brooding in bitter darkness over this fact, hating everyone for naturally being hypocrites, for being selfish, for wanting to use her. She would stoop to their level if necessary but always considered herself above and he was asking her to sink below with them. The difference he was explaining, was that by knowing that it was just that that you were doing, you were still above them.

He said if she could join in it would all work, and she nodded again, thinking and focusing on the predicament. It would require completely changing focus, changing tact halfway through the plan- no, not even halfway, it was really almost too late. Then again, Piper rarely doubted herself because she knew the lengths she would and could go and if she meant something, she followed through.

How was the question now.

At his words again, she looked up, it having been the exact predicament she had just allowed her mind to turn on to consider. She glanced up at him and half shrugged, saying. "I guess I need to figure out what I have to offer, huh."

My God, Darius thought, uncharacteristically suppressing the urge to roll his eyes as he appealed to a higher power he didn’t believe in, Why am I even bothering? If this girl is so incredibly thick that she can’t take that blatant an opening, there is no way she’ll ever be useful.

It was exasperating, having to walk Piper toward the conclusion Darius wanted her to have. Usually, with women, it was much easier than this. That was likely because Darius was usually trying to lead women to the conclusion that they wanted to sleep with him – and that wasn’t very difficult at all considering his genetic makeup and the particular brand of women he tended to pursue – but still, Piper was really acting more dense than she was, in Darius’ opinion. The girl had already proven herself interesting enough to keep Darius around for the better part of an hour, though just barely. It would be so disappointing to find out now that all that time had been wasted.

Time to break it down for her, Darius thought, shuddering at the lack of finesse in this conversation. But he would do what he had to do to get back into the group that his reputation at least in part depended upon.

“I think we would both like to know what that is, because you’re not exactly advertising it,” Darius said impatiently, running a hand through his hair and resisting the urge to have another cigarette. There was only one more in the pack, and he would need it for the walk home.

“I’ll tell you what. When we’re back at Hogwarts in the Fall, I’ll give you a practice run with some of my crew. If you don’t get eaten alive, we’ll know you have something to offer. If you embarrass yourself or, even worse, embarrass me… I can almost guarantee your social standing will never, ever rise because I’ll see to it personally that it doesn’t. Risk and reward, darling. So what do you say, are you in?”