wall. “Autumn, I’m disappointed. I’m the one person in this school that can truly understand your predicament—do you really think it is any different among the staff?—yet you repay me with such rudeness.” I raised my eyebrows to the wall, wondering what on earth that essay contained to affect him to such a degree.
“Sorry, sir,” I heard her mumble.
“You will be sorry after a detention on Thursday evening.”
She inhaled sharply and I thought it safe enough to turn back. “No, sir, please! I have work that evening, and that’s following a twilight textiles lesson anyway.” Her face was aghast and panicky, her eyes wide and shaped like almonds. I was aghast for a different reason. She has a job?!
“Then your detention will take place after textiles, and you will have to miss work.”
“Please, sir, any other evening, lunchtime even. Please, they are already threatening to sack me!”
“Because of poor attendance?”
Her head drooped again.
“As I thought. I wonder, Fallon, would you mind staying behind on Thursday, too? There’s a lot of summer work for you to catch up on, and Autumn will very quickly get you up to speed.”
I didn’t answer immediately. She wanted to protest, that much was clear, but her manners prevented her mouth from ruining the perfect straight line her lips created. I felt a tiny pang of resentment— what have I done? —but nodded. “Sure.”
That resentment increased a notch when the room went silent as they conversed with their minds, leaving me out. Yet it shattered when I caught a glimpse of her lips quivering as she turned away, her hand rushing to her face.
“Fallon, would you mind stepping out of the room for a moment, please?”
I didn’t want to. But then I remembered the pained expression she had worn when holding the sword to my neck. I did as I was told.
Outside the door, which slammed on its self-closing hinge, I tried to demystify what had happened that morning. Yet the deeper I dug, the less it seemed to make sense. We had been friends as children! We had played kiss chase and staged play weddings and bossed each other about. Now it seemed like she hated me.
A few minutes later, the door opened and a blond blur passed without pausing. She had already shot past before I had prised myself away from the wall I was leaning on. I hurried after her down the stairs. She glanced back toward me and her pace doubled as she half jumped the remaining steps.
“Autumn!” She didn’t stop. “Autumn, I was just wondering if you want a lift home on Thursday? It’ll be late—”
I never got to finish my sentence, as she whirled around, mouth agape; lips rolled back slightly; red, puffy eyes narrowed so that they slanted. She didn’t say a word, but her expression said more than words could. She remained like that for a few seconds before she turned back around and left; her movements slow and sluggish once more.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Autumn
H ow all occasions do inform against me indeed.
Fallon appeared in my history class. The whole A2 class appeared in my history class. The explanation was simple: the usual history teacher was off on maternity leave, and the current unit for both our class and the A2 class was Sagean history, so Mr. Sylaeia would teach both classes together in addition to English. I knew that my look when he entered the room was one of stewed fury and betrayal, firm in the belief that he could not have thought of a crueler punishment than detention with the prince. When the latter arrived, I urged Christy and Tammy to sit on either side of me, walling me in. They didn’t seem too pleased that we had used up all the seats in our row, leaving no room for the prince, but it didn’t matter. He chose to sit on the other side of the room, squeezing in at the far corner of a desk with some of the other A2 students. I was surprised but relieved. Yet the horseshoe arrangement of the desks still meant that we faced him. I inched my chair around to
“Sorry, sir,” I heard her mumble.
“You will be sorry after a detention on Thursday evening.”
She inhaled sharply and I thought it safe enough to turn back. “No, sir, please! I have work that evening, and that’s following a twilight textiles lesson anyway.” Her face was aghast and panicky, her eyes wide and shaped like almonds. I was aghast for a different reason. She has a job?!
“Then your detention will take place after textiles, and you will have to miss work.”
“Please, sir, any other evening, lunchtime even. Please, they are already threatening to sack me!”
“Because of poor attendance?”
Her head drooped again.
“As I thought. I wonder, Fallon, would you mind staying behind on Thursday, too? There’s a lot of summer work for you to catch up on, and Autumn will very quickly get you up to speed.”
I didn’t answer immediately. She wanted to protest, that much was clear, but her manners prevented her mouth from ruining the perfect straight line her lips created. I felt a tiny pang of resentment— what have I done? —but nodded. “Sure.”
That resentment increased a notch when the room went silent as they conversed with their minds, leaving me out. Yet it shattered when I caught a glimpse of her lips quivering as she turned away, her hand rushing to her face.
“Fallon, would you mind stepping out of the room for a moment, please?”
I didn’t want to. But then I remembered the pained expression she had worn when holding the sword to my neck. I did as I was told.
Outside the door, which slammed on its self-closing hinge, I tried to demystify what had happened that morning. Yet the deeper I dug, the less it seemed to make sense. We had been friends as children! We had played kiss chase and staged play weddings and bossed each other about. Now it seemed like she hated me.
A few minutes later, the door opened and a blond blur passed without pausing. She had already shot past before I had prised myself away from the wall I was leaning on. I hurried after her down the stairs. She glanced back toward me and her pace doubled as she half jumped the remaining steps.
“Autumn!” She didn’t stop. “Autumn, I was just wondering if you want a lift home on Thursday? It’ll be late—”
I never got to finish my sentence, as she whirled around, mouth agape; lips rolled back slightly; red, puffy eyes narrowed so that they slanted. She didn’t say a word, but her expression said more than words could. She remained like that for a few seconds before she turned back around and left; her movements slow and sluggish once more.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Autumn
H ow all occasions do inform against me indeed.
Fallon appeared in my history class. The whole A2 class appeared in my history class. The explanation was simple: the usual history teacher was off on maternity leave, and the current unit for both our class and the A2 class was Sagean history, so Mr. Sylaeia would teach both classes together in addition to English. I knew that my look when he entered the room was one of stewed fury and betrayal, firm in the belief that he could not have thought of a crueler punishment than detention with the prince. When the latter arrived, I urged Christy and Tammy to sit on either side of me, walling me in. They didn’t seem too pleased that we had used up all the seats in our row, leaving no room for the prince, but it didn’t matter. He chose to sit on the other side of the room, squeezing in at the far corner of a desk with some of the other A2 students. I was surprised but relieved. Yet the horseshoe arrangement of the desks still meant that we faced him. I inched my chair around to
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