Justice for Jennette | wmmap

12- The noble girl and the Walnut

Jennette and Wally hang out.

They shared a nice laugh before taking a walk down the street, looking at each other instead of the shops. Jennette was a shy person, in her opinion at least. Keeping eye-contact was difficult for her. But with Wally, it was just so easy. Maybe it's because Wally was the first person she befriended who wasn't a noble, not that that was a bad thing. 

"I've never seen you around before, what brings you by?" Wally asked, her arms folded around her head as she walked. "Ah, I've always lived here. I just never left my home." Jennette answered, pink appearing on her cheeks in embarrassment. Wally chuckled, "Is that so? Where do you live anyway?"

Jennette contemplated whether or not to tell her new friend that she's not only a noble, but she lives with the duke. "I live at the Alpheus manor. Uncle Alpheus took me in while I was a baby and I've lived with him ever since." She thought it was best to leave out the part about her secretly being related to the King. 

Wally dropped her hands from their place at the back of her head, her face plastered with a shocked expression. "'Alpheus'? As in," she gulped, "Roger Alpheus? The duke? The one with the pretty boy son?" Jennette giggled sheepishly, stopping Wally's spiral. "Yes, him." A flash of realisation washed over her. "Is that a bad thing?" Her smile degrading to a nervous frown.

Wally immediately tried to cheer her up. "N-No! Of course not. I was just surprised is all." The girl explained, "It's not everyday a girl from a family who's rumored to eat people befriends a princess." Jennette seemed pleased with her answer. "I'm flattered but I'm not a princess." Wally shrugged, "You might as well be." They shared another heartfelt laugh.

They continued their walk, accompanied by some idle chatter such as "How was it like to live with a duke and his pretty son" and other harmless questions before stopping in front of a park. "Oh, look! This is my favourite place to play." Wally stated as she ran for the sandbox, Jennette following suit. 

Wally happily started grabbing particles of sand, ready to play and build whatever she wanted. The sand falling through her fingers like dust, earning a solemn look from Wally. 

"I like sand." Wally said.

Jennette chuckled, "I can see that."

For a moment, Jennette thought Wally looked prettier than before. The setting sun brushing her features, her sorrowful face was highlighted. Jennette wanted to see that face smile. She wanted to be the reason Wally was smiling. 

Wally looked up at the sun, her forearm acting as a shield to keep her eyes from burning. She winced, a gap between her fingers allowed the ray of the sun to hit her in the eyes. Wally lowered her arm, looking back to Jennette, "The sun's already setting huh,"

Jennette nodded, keeping her eyes on Wally. Wally being the only thing Jennette could see.

Until a boy came into view. 

The boy was wearing practically the same garbs as Wally, his hair a coffee brown and his eyes an ocean blue, like Jennette's contact lenses. Jennette could feel Wally's displeasure at the boy's sudden appearance.

And it doesn't seem like he came alone Jennette thought as a group of similar looking boys followed him. Wally stood up, traces of sand still clinging onto her rugged palms. Jennette eyed them warily. It was obvious Wally wasn't on good terms with them, which could only mean they were trouble.

"Well if it isn't the walnut! And who do we have here?" The boy started, his eyes looking at Jennette. 

Wally placed a hand between them, not allowing him to look at Jennette. "Knock it off, Jason. She's my friend." She spat, anger seething through her words.

The boy, Jason, didn't seem surprised by this answer. In fact, he seemed happy with it. "Oh? Does she know that your family eats people yet?" He smiled smugly, only adding more to Wally's displeasure.

One of the boys spoke up from behind Jason, "Hey, girlie, you shouldn't hang out with her!" The other snickered, peeking from Jason's shoulder to look at Jennette, "Yea! She's really creepy and her family eats people!"

"Oh! Oh! And, she likes to fight with boys. So un-ladylike." The first one added on. 

Jennette grew irritated. How dare they bully her new friend like this? Though Wally seemed used to it. "I don't care if she does. I hope you boys know that I..." she paused to think of something, "...am friends with an evil witch, who can curse all your families when you go to sleep." Jennette huffed, feeling proud of herself.

'You are the evil witch.'

Wally was comforted by Jennette's response, her eyes widening before a grateful grin smeared her face. "Yea! You boys better leave us alone. Or else-" 

"Or else what?" Jason snapped back, wrinkles forming on his sweaty face.

"Or else my family will come and eat you!" Wally yelled as she grabbed a ball of sand and threw it at Jason, startling the boys behind him.

Whispers of reassurance were given to Jason by his two friends before he tackled Wally to the ground, his said friends following suit. Wally held her own against Jason, grabbing his hair and punching him in the face as he straddled her. Jason doing the same to her. 

His friends tried kicking Wally but couldn't with Jason in the way. Jennette bit her lip and took both of them head-on. It's not as if she didn't have to deal with constant ridicule and getting rocks thrown at her in her past life, so she knew she had at least some knowledge in fighting.

Jennette pushed Jason off of Wally, placing herself on his abdomen and punching him in the face as Wally did. Wally took the other two boys. One of the boys had their face shoved in the sand and the other one ran away before anything serious could happen to him, his cries being audible even from afar, calling for his mommy. 

Their fighting in the sandbox made an air of calamity around them, sand and dirt getting into everyone's eyes on occasion. By the time the dust settled, the unnamed boy had bite marks on his arms, Jason with scratches all over his face and a bleeding nose, Wally with ruffled hair and a black eye. 

Jennette was most probably the least unscathed from the battle with only a few scratches and dirt on her previously perfectly clean dress. Oh and her hair was mixed with sand and dirt. Luckily, her crow was okay and everyone's hats were still intact. 

The boy was the first to start crying, visible big tears falling down his rusty cheeks, "She bit me! The walnut bit me!" Jason looked to him in worry. Wally crossed her arms, not saying a word. "Now look what you did!" Jason shouted, his voice wobbly as he snapped back to her. To both Wally and Jennette, it was quite obvious tears were forming in his eyes at the moment.

Jason squeezed his eyes shut and dragged the other boy along with him as he ran away from the playground. The sun had almost completely set by now. Jennette broke into a fit of laughter, leaving Wally stunned before she started laughing as well.