Amneisa

Amnesia XXXV

The next day Addison's wrist felt horrible. It was stinging and itchy. She washed it and applied a new bandage. After getting ready into her uniform, Addison looked at herself in the mirror. She looked so different to when she had started the academy. Not only was her hair, wrist and lip colour different, but the way she carried herself had changed too. She stood and wore her clothes with more confidence. Her face seemed brighter, it glowed.

She wasn't the same Addison Pierce that walked into Eaton a few months ago, she was different now. But she wasn't really Ari either. Truth be told, Addison didn't know who Ari was. Who would she have been if her life was different? Would she still have the same personality? The same outlook on life? She was Ari, but at the same time, she wasn't. It was complicated.

Addison had looked at the uniform she was wearing a hundred times. Not only at her time at Eaton, but long before that too. She would know that specific shade of navy blue anywhere, she had looked at it on the internet enough times. Addison had begged her parents to let her go to Eaton to study Music. Ever since Addison was a little girl, all she had ever wanted to be was a singer. To perform for a crowd of people and put on concerts while on tour around the world. Now she wouldn't even sing in front of her friends, not even Clary. Her parents had said no to music and to Eaton. The music industry was unstable and she had a company to take care of. Eaton, on the other hand, was a good choice, expect it wasn't safe for the secret heir. So just like that, Addison's dreams disappeared into nothingness.

But there she was at Eaton, waiting to start her day of lessons for the first time as an eighteen-year-old, living half of her dreams. The other half was long gone. Her goals in life had changed. She had a company to take care of and a mentor to show her the ropes. Speaking of Clary, Addison hadn't spoken to her for twenty-four hours. That was a long time for them both. The longest Addison had ever gone not speaking to Clary was twelve hours, her first few months at Eaton excluded. Addison didn't have time to call her at that moment, but she would soon.

The three roommates had breakfast together before Caiden and Addison made their way to Business Management and Maddison waited to go to school. On their way there, Addison spotted Katerina and Isabelle. It had been a long time since they had seen each other, Addison wanted to make sure things were okay between them. She smiled at Katerina when they made eye contact. Katerina smiled back slightly and then turned away to continue her conversation with Isabelle.

Addison took a seat next to Caiden in the auditorium. Mr Holloway was already there and immediately started the lesson about the international political economy. They were learning about theoretical concepts and how to apply them to case studies, quite boring really.

"We will be having a mock exam in two weeks time, study hard for it." Mr Holloway said an hour and forty minutes later. "We have a twenty minutes left, plenty of time to talk about the news in the Myer case. Anybody want to tell me what it is?"

Alec put up his hand and answered. "The marriage contract sir. Richard Lawson wanted his son Charlie to get married to the heir of Myer and Co."

It wasn't the marriage contract that caught Addison off guard, Clary had already warned her about that, it was the fact that Alec had spoken in the past tense, 'wanted'. For the first time, Addison spoke up in class "Wanted? So he doesn't want that anymore?" All eyes turned to her. Before it would have made her feel extremely self-conscious, but now it made no difference to Addison. "Sorry, I've been a bit busy," Addison said before Mr Holloway could say anything about not keeping up with the case and news.

"He withdrew the proposal" Mr Holloway answered.

"Why?" Addison asked.

"He said it was due to a change in heart, but I don't think that's true at all."