Helena Pevensie (Caspian Love Story)

4. The First Day

Shutting the door, Helena closed her eyes, releasing a long, relieved breath. She had just seen out her final French class for the day and was now on break for lunch. She had only just sat down when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Helena called weakly. The door opened tentatively and Eustace appeared.

Stepping inside, he said in a rush, "I'm so sorry about how they treated you today. Are you all right?" Helena sighed, completely unsure of how exactly to respond to that question. She had sat down at her desk with her head in her hands. Eustace pulled a chair up next to her and asked, "Can I do anything to help?" Helena shook her head.

Drawing in a long soothing breath, Helena lowered her hands and said, "I really thought my first day as a teacher would be less eventful." Turning to look at her cousin, Helena asked, "Is it going to be like this every day?"

"It depends," Eustace replied sombrely. "Some teachers deal with it every day. Others only sometimes." When Helena made no response, Eustace said, "Tell you what, I'll go pick up both of our lunches and then we can talk about Narnia to forget about all this, right?"

"Okay," Helena said with a small yet weary smile. Although none of her classes had gone the way she had expected, even with Eustace's warnings, Eustace's class was the worst of them all. She hadn't time to think over everything of what had happened before Eustace had returned carrying two packages. Setting one before her, he reclaimed his chair and the two began their lunches. If anything could have revived her spirits given her current circumstances, a good talk about Narnia certainly would.

Eustace was pleased to see that all of Helena's negative emotions faded away at the mere mention of the place. After they had talked through most everything from their adventure, Eustace ventured to ask, "How are you doing, by the way, after Caspian?"

Helena couldn't help smiling slightly at the sound of his name before she replied, "I'm all right. Honestly, I am. I know that one day I'll see him again and that's enough for me. And anyway, I trust Aslan. If he says this is where I'm supposed to be than this is where I'm supposed to be."

"All the same, I'm awful sorry about the whole thing," Eustace said sincerely. Helena nodded, but before they could talk more, the bell for the conclusion of lunch rang. Getting up, Eustace said, "Well, see you."

"Yes," Helena replied, also standing. "I've just got dance classes and then I'm done for the day."

"See you later then," Eustace said.

.

The dance classes turned out to run much smoother than her French classes and this, Helena soon discovered from Eustace, was because many of the boys and girls in the class were there only to avoid the group of bullies who primarily used the gym time to torment the others. Eustace had joined the class as well and although he wasn't much good, Helena could see that he was trying.

After the gym/ballet time was over, the boys and girls were all released to their own devices. It was during this time that Helena first met Jill Pole. Jill was in Eustace's year and was a short girl with short brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had done the ballet class but as there were about twenty-five students in the class, Helena had not gotten the chance to get to know her at all.

Helena was just cleaning up after class when there was a tentative knock on the door to the dance room. "Come in!" Helena called, expecting it to be Eustace. Instead appeared Jill, but as Helena's back was turned to her she had no idea who stood behind her. "Eustace, I-" she began excitedly before turning around. Bushing slightly, she said, "I apologize. I was expecting my cousin."

"Eustace Scrubb is your cousin?" Jill remarked in surprise.

"Yes," Helena replied with a fond smile. "Jill, right?"

"Yes, Madam," Jill said.

"Is everything all right, Jill?" Helena asked, her brows furrowed in concern. When the girl seemed reluctant to answer, Helena recalled what Eustace had told her about the teachers ignoring cases of bullying. Deciding to ignore the question she had asked, Helena reached into her bag and said, " You know, Jill, I've got a bar of chocolate that I was going to eat by myself, but I've found that chocolate usually tastes better when shared." Holding up the bar, she asked, "Would you like some?"

Jill smiled and nodded. Ignoring the chairs in the room, Helena sat down on the floor. She was one of the few women she knew who had an adversion to dresses. For that reason, she nearly always wore pants. Jill sat down beside her and they began to eat in silence. They had gotten about halfway through the candy when Helena said, "You know, you can trust me if you would like to, Jill. I'm not like the other teachers here. I may not have the power to stop the bullying that's happening, but I can listen."

Jill looked up at her in surprise for a moment before she said, "Well, it's just that..." She let out a long sigh. "I tried to convince Mum and Dad to let me attend a different school but they refused. I thought before that there was a slight chance of going somewhere else but now I'm just stuck here."

"I understand," Helena replied kindly. "I had a similar disappointment recently as well."

"What happened?" Jill asked curiously. Helena frowned, thinking through exactly how she could explain.

Finally she said, "There was a man that I loved. But it wasn't for us to be together."

"Why?" Jill asked with a frown.

Helena sighed, "I don't know how to explain, but he was going somewhere that it wasn't for me to follow."

"Somewhere bad?" Jill asked.

"No," Helena said with a fond, wistful smile. "A wonderful place, but it's not for me yet."

"I'm sorry," Jill said softly.

"Don't be," Helena said with a good-natured smile. "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, even if I don't quite understand why yet."