Never After (School for Good and Evil x Reader)

Chapter 10

I had no idea why lunch was a joint-school activity, because Evers sat with Evers, Nevers sat with Nevers, and both groups pretended the other wasn't there.

Lunch took place in the Clearing, an intimate picnic field outside the Blue Forest gates. To get to the Clearing, students had to journey through twisty tunnels of trees that grew narrower and narrower, until one by one the children spat through a hollowed trunk onto emerald grass. As soon as I came through the Evil tunnel, I followed the line of Nevers receiving rusty pails from red-suited wolves, while Evers from the Good tunnel took picnic baskets from nymphs in red hoods.

What had occurred in class was still bothering me. Peter Pan couldn't have been a villain. After all, he was just a boy. He couldn't have done all those awful things to the others.

But, if he was a villain, why had an incorrect tale been sent to Gavaldon?

Sophie and I settled beside Agatha on a nice shady patch of grass. Right as Agatha was about to bite into her sandwich, Sophie swiped it.

"You don't know what I've been through," she sobbed, scarfing it whole. "Here's yours." She plunked down a pail of gruel.

Agatha stared at her.

"Look, I asked," Sophie garbled between bites. "Apparently Nevers need to learn deprivation. Part of your training. This is lovely, by the way."

Agatha was still staring.

"What?" Sophie said.

Over Agatha's shoulder, she saw Tedros and his friends pointing and snickering.

"Oh no," Sophie groaned. "What'd you do now?"

Agatha kept gaping at her.

"If you're going to be a brat about it, you can have the soufflé." Sophie frowned. "Why is that strange imp waving at me?"

Agatha turned and saw Kiko across the Clearing, waving and flaunting newly red hair. It was the exact same color as Tristan's. Agatha's face went white.

"Um, you know her?" Sophie said, watching Kiko giddily approach Tristan.

"We're friends," Agatha said, waving Kiko away from him.

"You have a friend?" Sophie said. Agatha turned to her.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that!" Sophie yelled.

"You haven't been eating candy, have you?"

"Huh?" Sophie shrieked, realizing—her hand flew up and ripped Lesso's wart off her face—"Why didn't you tell me!" she cried, as Tedros and boys exploded into whoops.

"Ohhh, it can't get any worse," Sophie moaned.

Hort picked up her discarded wart and ran away with it.

Sophie looked at Agatha. Agatha cracked a smile.

"It's not funny!" Sophie wailed.

But Agatha was laughing and so were Sophie and I.

"What do you think he'll do with it?" Agatha sniggered.

Sophie stopped laughing. "We need to get home. Now."

Agatha told Sophie and I about all her frustrations solving the riddle, including her dead end with Professor Sader. Before she could even try to ask about his paintings, Sader had taken off to meet his Evil students, leaving three geriatric pigs to lecture about the importance of fortifying one's houses.

"He's the only one who can help us," said Agatha.

"Better hurry. My days are numbered," I grumbled and recounted everything that had happened with our roommates, including their prediction of my doom.