Jason kept his exxpression set on cool. There was no reason for her to be so angry that he thought she was gay. All the signs were there, he jsut needed a denial or a acceptance. He waited paitently for her to pick up her jaw from the floor. His little insinuattion had really stunend her, he noted with a mild intrest. It seemed like doing what she thought you'd do the least momentarily got her to shut up. Hhe stored that piece of information away for later use.

"You should have learned by now that calling me a jerk dosen't really do anything to affect my conscience, or ego." He said conversationally, as though they were just having a polite talk about the current weather. Or a talk about the current Qudditchh world match scores. Jason almost felt liek saying "Yeah, welll, the Quivering Harpies are down 2 points...But the Dumbelt Trolls are up 3" Not that she'd give a crap about Quidditch, or anything he'd tell her.

He almost choked. Sure he had wanted a quick snog, but did she really think he wanted to bed her? This wasn't Bash and Dash night! That was every friday! Today was Tuesday! "Right, and what makes you think I wanted to have sex with you?" He asked with a sneer. She found people overrated? Man, were the girls going ot have a field day with her.They'd rip her to shreads just for saying that one word.

So she hated the name Lizzie? Well, that made his life alot easier. "So, Lizzie, your mother is a muggle right?" He asked nicely, keeping all traces of malice and venom out of his voice.

Liz hated this guy.

He hurled ridiculous accusations at her, and then seemed mildly surprised that she was offended. However, Liz caught a bit of something else in his expression-it was almost like he was sizing her up, or reevaluating an original judgment he made about her. She wondered what had brought that about, but was too annoyed to really care.

Liz smirked when he told her that her calling him a jerk did not offend him. She did not mean for it to, honestly. "That is a pity, your ego could use some deflating... though I was not aware that you had a conscience. Also, I am not calling you a jerk because I want to bruise your ego--I am calling you a jerk as a statement of fact. The adjective fits you quite well, and as they say, if the shoe fits..." Honestly, that was the truth. She was not calling him a jerk because she wanted to get back at him, but because he was, in all honesty, a jerk. Liz is the type who tells it like it is.

Liz was a bit taken aback by Jason's stunned and angry reaction. As twisted as it was, it made her feel a bit better that his aim was not quite as bad as she had thought. Liz tended to assume the worst about people like him, and either way she did not want anything to do with him. However, she was a tad bit relieved. "Honestly, nothing. But I know better than to understimate the intentions of people like you; and besides, you never made it clear that you did not." She hated admitting she was wrong, but even with idiots like him, she knew where to draw the line. Besides, it was better than just saying nothing, because at least she could do a bit of offense instead of just her weak defense.

Liz groaned. She HATED when people called her Lizzie. As in majorly hated it. And now Jason knew that. Meaning he would be calling her Lizzie a lot. It just made her hate him all the more. Besides Jase, there were no nicknames for Jason, and Jace had too much sentimental meaning to her to use with him.

Jason asked his question in a perfectly nice tone, which made her incredibly suspicious. She hated bad data collecters. She hated them with a passion, and she had already made it quite clear that she did not want to give him any more information. Did he honestly think that by asking nicely he was going to get anything out of her? Her life was none of his business, especially since she hated him anyway. Why the HECK did he want to know anything about her life??

Then it dawned on her. Something was DEFINITELY up with this conversation. She had seen all the bizarre, smug looks on his face that should not have been there, and she had seen the glint in his eyes. Her gut instinct had been warning her all along. Now she just had to find out what he was doing.... It appeared it was time to do some data collecting for herself.

"Why does it matter? I mean, honestly, do you pester all the other girls this much after you acted like you were giving up and then did not? Why does my life make any difference to you? I refuse to answer any more questions until you tell me that. And even then, we shall see... Oh, and by the way, blase is NOT your specialty, and if you think you look like you do not care about the answer, you need a reality check."

He laughed without humour, "Well then, I get called the jerk and you get to be called Lizzie. Alls fair in Love and War, honey cheeks." He smiled sweetly, oh of all the ways to annoy her. She picked a name to be her almost unofficial achelis heal? He could almost laugh at the irony. Stick and Stones may break her bones...But words will forever piss her off. Oor, a least that how he thought it went.

He decided to change his tacktics, that gleam in her eye told him that she was on to him. She could probably smell him a mile off. Well, that was what he had wanted, ask loads of questions and make it obvious, then wait for her to realise. Then loose intrest really quickly and then start up again rather suddenly. That act of confusion always works.

He smirked "If the shoe fits get a bigger size. Everyone knows you get shoes a little too big so you can grow into them." He said rolling his eyes at her poor attempt to put a saying on his shoulders. He sighed, "How about you just answer the questions. I don't particularilygive a damn about your life." He said bluntly not even pausing to see if this had insulted her. "I know about all the other girls' lives because they tell me. You may as well just give me a brief outline. I'll get the info I want by friday, anyways." He laughed "I'ma wizard, I go beyond relaity, hun bun." He looked towards the oak table "Don't you have some homework you should be doing?" He asked in an uninterested voice.

Liz cringed. Lizzie, and "honey cheeks"? This guy was good. He used the worst nicknames ever, and he knew it... he used it as a source of entertainment for him and as a mode of torture for her. She really needed to work on that... she had finally given him something that got under her skin, and he was going to take full advantage of it. It always bugged her when people called her Lizzie, but she saw that if she wanted to make it through this conversation in tact, she would have to shrug it off. She raised her eyebrow, but trudged on, without showing any signs if irritation. She almost broke when she looked at Jason and saw the spark in his eyes, like he was repressing laughter, but she kept her face as impassive as a brick wall. "Honey cheeks? Honestly, where on earth do you get these from, the slimeball handbook? And honestly, your use of the phrase "All's fair in love and war" is ridiculous for two reasons. One, because in war there are many clearly defined rules that apply... whether they are followed or not, they most definitely exist. And second, love does not apply to this situation, since I quite frankly hate your guts." Bluntness was Liz's best friend.

Liz laughed. "I hate shoe shopping, so I would not really know. And I do not see why I should have to give you a summary of my life when I do not want to have anything to do with you to begin with. I mean not even my best friends here know the whole story, so why would I tell you? Also, you just said yourself that you do not particularly care about my life, so why are you asking me, and why should I give up my time and personal information when you do not care. And then, you contradict yourself--if you do not care, why would you go to other sources to glean the information? Make your mind up--either you care or you do not. You seem to have a bipolar thing going on."

Liz was neither offended by his lack of interest nor convinced. If he expected her to buy any of the crap he said, he should at least make his mind up. He could not even hold a good, solid argument, and it made her wonder how he had convinced so many girls... Then again, she supposed they would need less convincing.

She did not want him butting into her personal life, though, unless she trusted him, and she definitely did not trust this dude. She had figured out he was up to something, and she had noted that while she avoided answering his questions, he did answer hers. She was good at data collecting, and avoiding questions.

"As for being a wizard, that is kinda a statement of fact. If you were not a wizard, you would not be here. And how do you expect to get this information about me? It is not like I broadcast my personal info. Yes, your groupies would know a few random facts, but not a lot. Heck, my best friend even knows limited information, as I already stated. My life is my business, and that is the way I like to keep it." While Liz had nothing to hide about her life, she would rather people not know. Also, Liz completely avoided hun bun, deciding that it was too weak to bother.

"No, I actually finished my homework already. " Or everything that was due tomorrow, at least... Liz had a Charms essay that was due in a few days, but she had plenty of time to work on it, and she was already half-way done. Liz was a bit confused by the abrupt change in topic, but she just went with it.

He laughed again, "No, not the slimeball handbook. Oliver actually, "He rolled his eyes muttering something about the man being a genious. "Do you ever shut up?" Hhe asked shaking his head. A simple statement, an old saying and she gives hima lecture on why he shouldn't have used it. And why, now that he has used it, it is ridiculous, dosen't make any sense and dosen't reply to their converstaion? It was enough to make him want to smack her. Her tone was almost level with his, the bluntless as evident in hers as it was in his. Jace was beggining to think him a much more worthy opponent than he had first tthought. Hhe almsot slapped himself, what the hell was he saying? Worthy opponent? Tthe only worthy opponent he would grudgingly say was Oli, and Oli wasn't there right now.

He rolled his eyes, was there anything this girl didn't particualiry like? He couldn't remember the last girl who had told him she didn't like shoe shopping. Wasn't it some kind of rule that every girl liked to shop for shoes? And had a bag fettish that made no sense whatsoever to him and every other male on the planet? He sighed, and she thought he ws the one who needed to make up his mind? "I loose intresat in things too easily. Mmust be your personality it slightly bores me, you know."

He rolled his eyes, "To be honest, Lizzie, I didn't even know you had best friends. Let aloen that they knew hardly anything about you." He took a breath "Which kind of defeats the point in having best friends. Because true best friends know the other person better than they know themseleves." He said all of this as though he was reading a teleprompter and was reading the localn weather reports. In truth, no he hadn't lost intrest, btu better to make her think that and then spring a question on her much later, than to rush her and allow her to put up an even deeper wall between them.

Jason sighed, as though he were exasperated "You know, I asnswer all of yours, it's only fair that you should answer my questions." He smirked, "My 'groupies' " He said making the air quoites with his hands, "have their marvellous ways." He shook his head, "You've finnished all of it?" He asked a little taken a back. Time had escaped his mind for a while there. How long had they been arguing for? Was practice almost upon them? He decided to voice his question, and further move the subject away from her life. "What time is it, Lizzie? Is it almost practice?" He asked, all traces of insciincerites and malice gone from his features, sofetening them.

Liz rolled her eyes. Of course he would have gotten something like that from Oli, his best friend and partner in crime. They completed each other, making a sickeningly pervy pair. She heard Jason start mumbling, but she only caught the word "genius". Liz rolled her eyes--anyone who could consider Oli a genius had some serious issues. It appeared to her that Jason fit that description perfectly--she had decided that he was most likley bipolar, and that he might want to get that checked out.

"No, I do not shut up--when I have something to say, I say it, thank you very much." It was the honest to goodness truth, and she could see Jason rolling his eyes. Whatever, he was the same way, he could not deny it. Otherwise, this conversation would have been over a long time ago.

Liz laughed. "If my personality bored you, wouldn't you have left already? I mean the only reason I am still talking to you is because you keep making ludicris statements that need correcting. Otherwise, I would be out of here by now, since I find your personality repulsive. Maybe you are still here because I have wounded your pride, or whatever, but whether it is that or my personality, something is keeping you here." Liz wished this was not true, and wished that Jason would decide to go away now, but she unfortunately had no such luck. Liz was curious, however, as to why Jason just stood around talking to her, though, if he was "bored" with her personality. "If you expect me to buy what you say, you really need to get better at making statements without holes and contradictions."

Liz thought for a second about what Jason was saying. "Hm... I suppose I do not have best friends then, if that is the definition you use. I define best friend as the closest of my friends, and so to me best friend is really more of a subjective term--after all, my best friend is a lot less close to me than your best friend, I can almost guarantee." Liz was suspicious of Jason's abrupt "blase" attitude, and decided to keep on the lookout. She was nothing if not vigilant.

Liz internally grimaced. Great. She was hoping Jason would forget that she had told him nothing. It was just her luck. "MMkay, your groupies do not have marvelous ways. I have watched them in action, they are not exactly very good at what they do. Anyone with a bit of a spine could stand up to them, and I would like to think I have a spine. As for questions, I will answer only if people ask specific questions and if I see the need to answer them. As much as I would like to say it is just a personal vendetta against you, it is not. Currently, I do not see any reason to answer you."

Liz laughed. "I finished it all a long time ago, oh great observant one," she said sarcastically. "I finished a long time ago." Liz checked her watch. "And we still have about 15 minutes until practice starts, factoring in 10 minutes to get down to the pitch, just in case the stairs decide to be a pain in the neck."

"You may want to learn to put a filter on that brain-to-mouth thing you've got going on. You're going to get slapped in the face one of these days. And trust me, a slap form one of the girls here will hurt like hell." He said impassively almost wincing from remembering the slap Lucy had given him. He turned his head to look out of the window, loosing intrest in straing at Lizzie's face. He shook his head, ludicris statements? Only Lizzie, he thought exasperated, only Lizzie.

"I said I was bored of your personality, not that I was bored with the conversation." He said, tlaking to her as though she had a few screws loose. "Wounded my pride?" He scoffed, "Hardly, Liz Biz. Hardly." Wounded his pride? He could almsot laugh out loud. He shook his head, obviously, she didn't think so highly of his perseverance or natural I-could-care-less-what-you-said-to-me-or-about-me personality. "But dear Lizzy, what would Ii want with your money? I don't intend to make you buy anything." He said his eyes filled with innosence, he laughed, enjoying the patronising tone in his voice.

"Finnally, the girls admits defeat." He murmued to himself, at least she could finnally see that really, she didn't exactly have anyone in this whole school to call a best friend. No matter what her definiton was. Jace wasn't exactly sure if this made him happy or tif this made him feel a little sorry for her. "Well...A friend is a friend." He said softly, feeling the tiniest bit of pity for her. Everyone needed a friend, right? And he guessed even annoying one's like Lizzie needed people too, or...trolls..whatever she preferred. With her, he was neevr really sure.

"Well, you got me there. My groupies aren't the brightest in the bunch. But a man needs his groupies." He said with a genuine grin. He rolled his eyes, "Yes, Lizzie, I'll store that piece of information away for later use." He said with another eyes roll. Truthfully, it may come in handy, but could he be bothered to store it away? No way in hell. This conversationwas already dwindling on his paitence, why would he want another piece of information clouding up his mind? would it could be used for looking at girls legs?

He smirked, "So you are an expret in sarcasm now? well well, what a mystery you are." He said, adding in his own bit of sarcasm. He rolled his eyes, "The stairs are always perfect after you jinx them, have you never jinxed them Lizzy?" H easked in the same patronising tones as before, waggling his eyesbrows.

Liz laughed sarcastically. "I definitely have a filter, I just use it in a very unconventional way. You see, I do not lie to people to make them feel better--there is absolutely no point to it. If that leads to others wanting to slap me, that is fine. I could care less. If they actually do try it, they will regret it. Trust me, I have dealt with worse. Also, I do not know why any of those girls would be anywhere near me, or why they would hear or care about my opinion." Liz smirked when she noticed the facial expression that Jason had on. Obviously, he knew about the slaps from experience. It pleased Liz that someone might have common sense around the school.

Jason turned away and looked out the window, shaking his head and wearing an exasperated expression. Liz raised her eyebrow. What was that about? She had not said anything that could possibly be that exasperating.

Liz grinned. "Does that mean you will finally leave now? Because, if your bipolar brain decided that my personality is boring, then no matter how interesting you find the conversation, it is not worth it, is it?" Liz was sure he would not leave, but she still wanted to ask, as a last ditch effort to ditch him.

Liz grimaced as Jason laughed. First of all, Liz Biz?? What?? "Well, excuse me, but I do not exactly try to get into the heads of every creep I meet, so excuse me for not really caring what exactly your motives are. For all I care, you could be talking me in the hopes that you could distract me while evil librarians invade the school to erase Australia from all the maps. I may not try to get into every creep's head, but I sure as heck am not oblivious enough that I notice nothing. That being said, I am going to tell you what I have learned about people like you, just generally. Not necessarily you, but people I have met that remind me of you. It is entirely likely that guys like you would do stupid things out of a lack of a healthy ego--attention puffs them up and makes them feel all special. What is in their minds the best way to get attention? Why, getting girls, of course. What happens when girls turn them down? They bug the girl, making her life miserable. Most of them are so messed up it is hard to tell what makes them do what they do." Liz thought, and realized that was the longest rant she had gone on since she had talked to him. However, she had dealt with guys just like him before, and she knew what made them tick, for the most part.

Liz wanted to smack him. "Mmkay, first of all that pun was horrid. Second, I think you are trying to pull of innocent, but you just look like a racoon. Third, while you may not need me to believe anything you say, eventually you might want a long-term girlfriend with some brain cells, and if your statements are contradictory and filled with holes, it does not help your case." Jason obviously knew little about making a point. Did he not realize how important it was to present a seemingly rock hard wall around your case?

Liz glared at Jason. "You really know very lttle about me, don't you. You are pitying me--I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your expression. Do not pity me. You know why I have no best friends? Because I do not want any. If I really wanted, I could go suck up to all the little pop-types, and we could be "bff's" and live our drama-filled lives. When I want to make friends, I do. However, if you listened to me earlier, you would know that I do not particularly need people surrounding me at all times. I do not admit defeat, since I do not consider it defeat at all. I do not need friends. I can go it alone quite well, thank you very much. I have done it all my life, and I will do it until the day I die." Liz's eyes were blazing, and it made her furious that Jason was treating her like a "poor lonely little girl with no friends".

Liz scoffed. "Not all guys need groupies, you know. In fact, only the guys who need to be avoided the most have them, just from personal observations." Rolling her eyes, Liz said,"And what, does your brain storage system only work on verbal command? I only said it in explanation for why you shall find out this information overy my cold dead body... and chances are, if I am dead, the information dies with me."

"Psh. Are you just now catching on, smart one? Why, I am stunned--I thought it would take you another year at least!" Liz said, carrying the theme of sarcastic digs.

"As for the stairs, I have jinxed them before, and it worked, but I prefer to do things the hard way. Trying to navigate my way down the ever-shifting stairs is much more of a challenge. Most people think I am nutty, but I could really care less what they say," Liz said, matter-of-factly. She had jinxed the stairs, but it was just too easy, and took away all the fun. What was the point of having shifting staircases if you were just going to jinx them into behaving?

Jason cocked an eyebrow, "You don't lie to make people feel better?" He asked a bit weary, it seemed strange to him that she did not do what basically everyoone on the p,anet did, bar the insanists. Which was obviously what Lizzie was, insane. He just couldn't wrap his head around someone not lying even if to make the other person feel just a little better about themselves. Well, now we know why she dosne't have any friends, he thought.

"You think I'm Bi Polar?" He let out a bark of laughter, "Now see, that's the funniest thing you've said all night." He said with a smug grin.

"While evil librarians come to the shcool to erase australia from the maps?..." He looked at her like she was a mad woman, for all he knew she was a mad woman. A strange and degranged child. He laughed sacastically, "Again, ouch." He said with a roll of his eyes. Her jibes were meant for him, but she was trying to be sly. Iif he had one, he would stamp a big FAIL accross her face for that first attempt. That was proabably the silg emost, longest rant he had ever heard.He wasn't even that impressed, it just irked him that he hadn't shut her up sooner.

"Seriously, shut up. You go on and on. A simple conversation is all I ask." He said dramatically, sighing heavily. But in truth, he was annoyed with her insestant talking, normally his girls shut up when he wanted them too and barely talked for they were too stunned in his presence to speak anyways.

"See, there you go again with the insults. Raccoon?" She feigned being wounded, "I always thought I looked a bit like a popstar." He said with a smirk. "Well, you can personaly observe my possee, because as far as I am concerned they need me. So if I can use them I will." Hhe sighed "So cryptic, calm down Lizzie, you're not dead yet. Live a little, love alot." Hhe said lossing intrest in her once again and turning towards the fire.

"And the award for the worst saracsm goes too? Lizzie!" He did a round of slow claps, just to irk her when she thought it would finnish he would do one more. "Why on earth would you choose the hard path? You're only going to fall on your face when the stairs decide to be tricky and spin the steps around under your feet." He said, mild intrest showing on his face. Lizzie was astrange girl yes, but she could possibly get even stranger, did he really want to hang around with her, here? For all eyes to see? Until the girls got their hands on her, Lizzie was in no condition to be seen with Json.

Liz rolled her eyes... Jason was ticking her off. However, it seemed that she was achieving her goal of getting him to go away, and that was really all that mattered to her at that point... If her strangeness made her seem like she belonged in the loony bin, then oh well. It was just the way she was, and if she tried to change that, she would gag herself--fake people made her want to puke, and the thought of being fake made Liz shiver.

"No, I do not lie to make others feel better. I find that honesty is the best policy, just in general. Occasionally, if the truth is too harsh, I do not say anything, but I will not completely lie to the person." The key word in that sentence that Liz added intentionally was completely. "Depending on the person, half the time people are just fishing for compliments anyway, which annoys me greatly." Liz was not big on pity parties, and though it sounded a bit cold, she did not believe that the best way to build confidence was to give pointless compliments on command.

Liz raised her eyebrow. "Why of course I think you are bipolar. You have the whole 'one second I will be horrid and pervy, making ridiculous comments and failing at seducing' attitude one minute and then you act completely uninterested the next. That is definitely not normal to switch moods and attitudes that quickly, and you really might want to get that checked out." Liz laughed, not at all bothered by Jason's attempt at an insult. Was he really implying that she was bipolar? "And how exactly am I bipolar? You really need to start backing up your claims with legitimate proof, pointing out the flaws in your reasoning skills is getting old quickly."

Liz winced. She forgot that Jason would not understand the reference, which was to one of her favorite muggle books. "Sorry, but I am assuming this means you have not read Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. You see, according to this book, which is fiction, by the way, librarians are pretty much evil, and they control all the information going around the word, since they control the books. Therefore, when Australia was taken over (they are hiding three continents from us, and they are attempting to get them under the shadow of librarian control), they had to add it to the map. Therefore, if it was taken from the librarians, they would need to erase it from the maps, though I suppose it is too late to save poor Australia... However, I was just using this an example of some ludicrous thing that for all I know could be your reason for bugging me. Oh... and by the way, I would like to state that it is not a reflection of my beliefs. I like conspiracy theories, but that one is a bit out there for me even... It is a hilarious book, though, and you should read it, though it has a lot of random muggle references you probably will not understand." Liz did not know how this conversation was turning into her sounding like a nut with strange tastes in books, making recommendations to Jason, but it just goes to show--conversations involving her usually were interesting, to say the least. However, Liz was genuinely puzzled. "What was the ouch for? I did not directly diss you for once... I am not sorry if I did, but I do not intend to."

"No, I would rather not shut up. I am hoping I talk so much it annoys you, and you leave me alone." Liz did not usually give away her plans, but she was not usually chatty either, and she wanted to confirm that it was not her going all soft, but just attempting to rid herself of his horrid presence. "As for a simple conversation... well, you picked the wrong person for that. Conversations with me involved are never simple, which you would know if you knew anything. Then again, knowing you, you probably are not used to girls talking in your presence. They are too 'awestruck', or something of the sort, or at least I am sure that is what your reasoning is. It makes me sick." Liz surprised herself by sounding a bit bitter near the end. She was sick of all the stupid, gullible girls who Jason tended to seek out, and both Jason and the conversation were wearing on her nerves.

"If you were not so narcissistic anyway, I would say that you needed to check a mirror and see for yourself, but knowing you, that would not help your ever-inflating ego much, so I would not recommend it... And yuk. Pop stars annoy me. Anything pop in general annoys me. Maybe that is why I do not like you... and seriously, you make me sick. Your group of gaggling girls makes me sick, but you make me even sicker. You make it sound like they are not people, but just tools in a war you do not even care about." Just thinking about it made her angry, and Liz muttered "kill me now" under her breath, quietly enough that Jason would not most likely hear her.

"And cryptic? No. I am not nearly cryptic enough, whether you realize it or not. And no, I am not dead yet, oddly enough... Talking to people like you makes me want to go hang myself, but I have had the self-control to avoid death so far... And as for loving... well, I will catch that boat later on, when the closest boat is not filled with gaping holes for water to leak in." Liz looked pointedly at Jason, showing that the symbolic boat filled with holes was him--get in, and while the boat floats back up, you sink.

Liz laughed. "Mmkay, so that one was horribly weak, but you did not give me much to work with. And besides, trust me, I have seen much worse. At least I understand the concept of sarcasm, that is much more than many people achieve in life." Liz knew that that was meant to annoy her, and so she made sure that she did not let it get to her.

"Psh. Not going to happen. I have taken those stairs every day since second year, when I realized that jinxing them was less fun, and nothing bad has happened to me. I have never been late to class, I have never missed a trick stairway, and they have never moved with me on them--if they did, I would hold on tight until they stopped. I can take care of myself. And besides: sometimes it provides shortcuts, and it is not really all that different from just jinxing the stairs... you just need a working knowledge of the school and the ability to see patterns." Liz did not know why Jason was staring at her as if she was mentally ill... "I am not clinically insane, they have had me tested, by the way. I am just abnormal and bizarre."

Liz realized that the more Jason wanted her to shut up, the more she talked... she would need to be careful.