𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓤𝓷𝓬𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 (𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓣𝔀𝓸)

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓽𝔂-𝓔𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽

"He did what?" Ninny, Jessie, and Fanny both nearly scream in unison at Charlotte and Caroline as they lay their hands on the library table.

Such a valid question even three days later.

My brain just hasn't been on the past few days. I've been sitting around letting my thoughts go absolutely wild.

I-

I just can't-

What the hell happened that day?

Honestly, it wasn't really real until the next Wednesday, Roger wasn't around here, and despite being married to him, Mistress Harriet seemed a little more relieved than sad.

It wasn't really real until no one was there to teach history, and everyone just got free time on their schedule. It wasn't really real until Arthur left that classroom and wiped that blade on the side of his pants like it was nothing more than dirt.

The only thing that's true is that Roger is now banished from ever coming near me again because Arthur did it. He used his position to his advantage, and got rid of him for good.

For me.

And the strangest and possibly scariest part of this entire thing is.... I'm not disgusted at all. Okay, I'm a little scared, obviously, but I don't-

I'm not-

It didn't stop me from talking to him like nothing ever happened.

I was right there, I saw the entire thing. I could've stopped him. If I told him not to go through with it, he probably would've listened to me. But I just stood there and watched him do it.

And I didn't even feel sorry for it. I let him ruin someone's life, and probably give him a much more painful death than he would've been given yesterday without saying a word.

But the worst part is, I kind of.... I kind of didn't hate it.

I shake my head, and run a shaky hand down my face.

What's wrong with me?

Jessie's brows knit together and she glances at me, "Catherine? Are you okay?"

I don't meet her gaze and instead focus on the hem of my pink dress, "Yeah."

Fanny puts her arm on the back of Jessie's chair and nuzzles into the green dress, matching hers, that lays on her neck, "She'll be alright. Mate, it doesn't mean anything. He could've easily done that just because he wanted to. It's not your fault."

Ninny rolls his eyes and scoffs, "She's not thinking it's her fault," he turns to me, "I assume you didn't at all get the answers I told you to."

I think I did whether I asked for them or not.

I shiver.

Charlotte brushes her loose hair over the fading pink mark on her face and gasps, "This is gonna sound very weird, but that was probably the most romantic thing I've ever seen in person."

She'd describe romantic as someone almost getting their fingers cut off and exiled?

Caroline's face stays in a straight line as she looks down at the open protest notebook, "For once Lottie, I agree with you."

They've gone insane.

Jessie writes down something in our protest notebook and sighs, "I- I don't know what to think."

"Neither do I," I mumble without even thinking.

Fanny rubs at her temples, "You guys have gone insane. If you think that's romantic, I'm worried about all of you."

You should be.

Ninny crosses his arms, "Before anyone here pitches a fit, we have to agree that even though this is very.... nice? of him to do for her, it still doesn't change anything. She still doesn't know his backstory at all."

I don't think I wanna know.

Fanny nods and scrunches her nose, "He makes me sick. He's a member of this monarchy, and watched all of this happen to everyone. I'm not trying to be a coot leader, but he doesn't deserve an ounce of your time."

That's not-

Charlotte gasps and muscles in her forehead pinch together as she stares at them, "Really? Backstory doesn't mean anything. It's a backstory for a reason, it's in the past. It doesn't change who he is now."

Ninny nods, "You're right, but that would be true if he didn't still live up to that backstory."

"I don't know," Caroline sighs and winces a little, "He's earned respect from me."

I nearly gasp.

I don't think I ever heard those words out of her mouth before.

I shake my head and rub my face again to stop the pounding of my head, "Whether or not this is giving me a headache, and I'd rather not talk about it anymore."

Fanny nods, "Right. We can instead talk about the research you and Necolineis did so far," she carefully reads through the notebook, "I think you did great. I'd pause any further research though until we vote for more of this stuff."

Good, I'm not in any mood to research anything.

I nod.

Jessie looks at the notes, "So with this Constitution thing, are there different parts to it?"

Ninny nods, "The Bill of Rights and the Articles of Confederation. We'd probably have to draft those ourselves if we're gonna do that."

We already voted on it, so we might as well.

Fanny nods, "Alright mate, I'll read through the textbook later and see what those were about. After we get our plan together, I guess that would be our next step huh?"

My mouth falls slightly open.

We're gonna be voting on things soon. That means we're gonna be writing that Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.

We also have to figure out how we're gonna actually implement any of this stuff.

More work.

But, we've made very good progress so far. From nearly being hung six months ago, to almost having a finalized plan for what we're trying to achieve.

A tired smile comes onto my face.