The last summer

Jane Austen

After the dance, we made our way back to the group. Will and Simeon laughing about something, and Daphné was smiling proudly at us.

"That was very kind of you, I have no idea what she would have done. This was all she'd been talking about for weeks. It's a shame that this doesn't actually mean she is the head girl." Daphné sighed.

"Well at least she is happy for now, she knows I never wanted it anyway." I was annoyed that Juliet was angry at me, not our teachers or peers for picking me. There was nothing I could do now.

"Oscar, you definitely had your dancing shoes on tonight. I'm pretty sure no one can top that dance." Arthur commented, and he was right we were the best classical dancers this school had.

"Here comes the happy couple." Daphné nodded at Roman and Juliet as the crowd parted like the red sea for them.

"How about that drink then?" Oscar whispered to me bending down to reach my ear.

"Let's go outside, there are a few bottles of stuff there, I don't feel like drinking with the others right now."

"Let's duck out then before Mr & Mrs charming reach us." he grabbed my shoulders and guided me out.

Behind the plant pot outside I found the bottle of vodka and whiskey I had hidden a few days before. I took the vodka and opened it taking a big gulp straight from the bottle. Oscar much like the final years looked at me impressed but also shocked with a low whistle.

The liquid burned as it did all those years before with Scott and Thomas by my sides. I handed Oscar the bottle and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I watched him and for the first time tonight checked him out, I often did. He was strikingly handsome, often overlooked when one of the other boys was about due to his standoffish front. but he was much more handsome than the others, when a girl would actually look at his face they saw that he was stunning.

He stood with confidence when he wasn't walking with his nose in a book. He would bump into people and they would apologize to him, even though it was his fault. His voice was sharp and sounded condescending without him knowing, the ways he spoke to those not close to him was polite in an 'I'm bored of you' kinda way, often talking like an aristocrat or nobility. Something he had learned from his father.

Tonight he was clothed in an expensive black suit, crisp white shirt, and white porcelain half mask.

'And sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself because I could find no language to describe them in' I thought to myself.

"What are you thinking?" he asked looking down at me, squinting as he often did, as if he did it hard enough he would be able to read my thoughts.

"That Jane Austen wrote and said many great and true things." I smiled, oh the words I wished to say but did not have the courage.

"Yes, she is actually remarkably relatable." He nodded taking another swig but didn't seem all that convinced by my answer.

"Do you ever think about running away?" I ask suddenly taking the bottle from his hand.

"That's what this summer is about, isn't it? All of us running away from something but all returning to the comfort of the school. Our safe haven from what we run." He said poetically, I thought he ought to write that one down.

"I suppose it is, but what if I wanted to run from some of those I'm running with," I sighed, this time I took a bigger drink hoping to get drunk faster.

"Artemis, surely you don't mean that?" he seemed horrified and concerned.

"No of course I don't, but the thought of dealing with Juliet over this stupid head-of-year thing is enough to make anyone question the friendship."