Her view
Plip, plip, PLOP!
The pebble skipped twice before accepting its descent to the pond's depths. Not many people frequented this park, so aside from a couple walking on the opposite side, the girl and her partner were the only ones there. There was still an early morning mist as the sun burst through the clouds, the grass waved to and fro, and the birds chirped loudly.
“You mean to tell me, he’s been sneaking about every night only to study for an hour or two before returning to the room? Did you confirm that he was unaware of your presence?”
Based on prior interactions, I assumed Aslow D. was only a gossip, but it appears he also has academic aspirations.
She flung another pebble towards the pond and the boy next to her glanced over before he spoke.
“I was able to distract him with some noise and enter the room before him so he shouldn’t have noticed I’d followed. Just because he sneaks out to review material doesn’t mean he’s some sort of criminal mastermind, there’s no reason to be so concerned.”
The girl sighed hoping what he said was true.
At least his activities shouldn’t interfere with ours.
He took a deep breath in and she could tell that now it was his turn to question her.
“You’ve been avoiding me to associate with… others for a while now. I’m assuming our early meeting today has a meaning beyond skipping rocks. Are you going to fill me in on anything?”
She smirked at his blunt words.
It appears tailing his roommate alone gave him some courage. Still…
Observing him closely, she noticed his eyes were a bit unfocused. Most likely, he was busy in his mire of thoughts about how she would respond or whether or not he should have asked.
She yawned and looked towards the floor. Then in a disappointed tone, she said, “Since you’re so serious about it… I won’t waste your time hanging around.”
Her face remained turned towards the ground but her eyes crept to the side as the boy to her left struggled to decide if he should respond or not. He looked as if he was feeling guilty and embarrassed.
“I didn’t mean…” trailing off, he still appeared conflicted by his previous actions. She playfully shoved him to the side and smiled again.
“I’m only playing with you, don’t let your confidence falter so easily.”
After his expression eased she continued
“I called you because of your unfortunate lack of surveillance abilities.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
He tucked his head as his ears reddened.
“I’m assuming you wanted me to see you the way you followed me around so obviously in broad daylight?”
She crossed her arms waiting for his explanation.
He mumbled, “I figured you wouldn’t want me to appear in front of your ‘dear’ cousin so I followed from a distance.”
On one hand, she understood that because they always had such proximity, he probably viewed her as an extension of himself, overly anxious when he was left out. That made sense, but his actions could cause issues at some point.
It’s true that even I feel protective over him and watching his efforts was entertaining.
“At least try and be less conspicuous when you decide to track my shadow, it'll be off-putting for Elodi if she discovers and more importantly you may end up garnering unnecessary curiosity from Belladonna.”
His eyes showcased his relief as he pulled his gaze up and it made her feel this was as good a time as any to ease the mood.
“What? You're so excited because I’m allowing you to follow me, at such an age you can’t seriously be planning to cling to me for life, right?”
He hesitated, “We’ll be working together for most of it anyway. Where else would I go?”
She was surprised he had such little reaction but she planned to give up without at least gaining a good laugh from the situation.
She presented as if she was pondering this thought. She moved a few steps away and directed her vision away from him.
“I don’t know, if I rise in the rankings I might be in a position to request another partner. Maybe a- “ She stopped short of the pond and stared into the water as she watched his reflection appear behind her. His brows angled towards one another and there was that annoyance she found so amusing.
He put his hands on her lower shoulders shifting her away from the pond's edge.
“I’d rather you pay attention to your surroundings rather than busy yourself with such… thoughts.”
Are my words starting to lose weight?
He let go of her shoulder and handed her another pebble to throw. Then under his breath, he said “… I don’t see why we should separate.”
Her eyes once again gravitated towards his direction. She turned so their faces were especially close and smiled. She picked up the pebble from his palm and held it not much higher than his hand.
“I don’t mind that you’ll keep me company forever.”
He stepped back and this time she was satisfied with his bewilderment. Lunging forward she skipped the pebble and brushed her hands off before striding away. She could hear him fumbling to catch up and she glanced up towards the sun that had appeared to have won its fight to secure the sky above.
When the girl returned to her dorm, she was relieved to find her roommate was only just stirring awake. She sat down at the vanity inside the elegantly large powder room and delicately examined her face with her fingers as if checking for any possible blemishes. Elodi Beatrice hardly took notice of the fact that her face appeared spotless as she stretched and wiped her eyes groggily. Although they only had two of the same courses Elodi had created a habit of walking her to other places as some way to make up for the grave mistake she’d felt she had committed when Constance had faced off with Chester.
They walked down the halls that were rather busy with prim and priss young masters posing as peacocks to win over the chameleon-like girls who gave them attention. Aside from them, some swarms followed high-ranking characters and students rushing to attend lectures. Among all this, the girl still felt this situation was somewhat increased today. A new roadblock was there today, the student representative members hanging fliers and the onlooking spectators. She made eye contact with Elodi who also looked curious and they made their way over to join the crowd. Her act unfortunately held her back from entering the mass and she had to wait for Elodi to return out of the group with a folded paper and a haggard appearance.
She took a few moments to catch her breath before handing it to Constance,
“I managed to convince the girl pasting them to hand over one for you to look at since I’d imagine you’d like to be able to read it on your own.”
Constance's face lit up and she glanced over the poster as if she was just glad to be included in such excitement. The girl had to catch her expression after reading the paper, however.
Charity Ball Held At The Winthrop Manor…
She was sure this must have been Belladonna’s idea to change the charity event from visiting orphanages to an excuse to visit the family gardens. Constance was not allowed visitors to prevent her from harmful outside health concerns. There were only a select few staff allowed in the manor, let alone her residence. Belladonna had complained about being kept from precious flora just as much as she’d griped about not seeing Constance herself.
Now that there's no one locked up in the Winthrops Manor, it seems that Belladonna plans to find any excuse to finally get a close examination of the plants she's been missing out on. I’m sure she will go on about how this idea is so splendid or something of the like after she finishes her duties and finds me. Still, the head and his supposedly shrewd wife agreed that quickly?
The girl was not sure how to feel about the possibility of meeting the one who hired her and the one who killed Constance so abruptly but it’d be best to discover whether these identities were the same sooner rather than later. She could’ve continued considering this if she hadn’t noticed someone suddenly come up from behind her and deliberately shove her to the floor.
Having to fake fall wasn’t on my agenda but here goes.
Thump!
