prince ♛ cole mackenzie

07 | the purest form of torture

"What do you think?" Anne excitedly looked to the three of them with her head held high. Her bright hair was braided with gray and white ribbons entwining. It did look quite a disaster, though Anne looked proud.

"Well, you . . . hold your head with such an air," Diana tried to compliment her. Diana's hair was as pretty as usual, with a simple blue bow to hold the top half of her raven curls.

"Yes, it's lovely," lied Silas, for he could tell how much beauty meant to her. He had caught her trying to decorate the inside of her satchel with flowers before. It had also turned out less desirable than she hoped.

Anne giggled in delight.

Cole's face had taken on the look it did when he drew. His eyes created a masterpiece they could not see. "Here. If you don't mind, I'd just make one or two adjustments, for balance. May I?"

Nodding, Anne sat on the bench for Cole to lift her flame-and-ivory braid and place it over her head.

"Ooh, that'll look divine, Anne," Diana said with another response in giggles.

"Um, Diana, could you?"

Diana helped Cole to undo the ribbons in her plaits while Silas told Anne how she would look like a real lady.

Silas suddenly became aware of the stares they were given. The class had ended their conversations to watch the hair-redressing in hushed whispers and snickers.

"Sorry everyone's staring at us," Cole spoke quietly.

"I didn't know Cole could do that," Ruby Gillis breathed adoringly.

Anne's eyes shone at the attention she had gained. "How I wish we were doing recitations today, when appearance is of paramount importance."

"Recitations?" Silas asked.

"Recitations are the purest form of torture," muttered Cole.

"Torture? You can't be serious!" said Anne.

"Standing up in front of a classroom, everyone staring at me?"

"That's the whole joy of it!"

"No joy at all. It's like being under a microscope. I just feel too tall, too seen, too . . . weird."

"You're not weird, Cole," Silas comforted.

"Oh, it's beautiful, Cole!" said Diana loudly.

"Cole Mackenzie!"

The four turned to see Mr. Phillips watching them with revulsion. "Since you seem to have such feminine proclivities, we shall indulge your taste of it this morning. You can sit with the girls. You too, Arroway."

The class erupted into laughter and exclamations. Billy Andrews's voice could be heard above them, "What? No, no."

Silas and Cole exchanged a look before Cole averted his eyes and picked up his bag. Silas grabbed his own and took the empty seat beside Jane Andrews. She had not been laughing, nor had Ruby or Tillie or Anne and Diana. Even Prissy looked slightly empathetic.

The class was silent after Mr. Phillip's outburst, until he left the room to retrieve another book for Moody, who had spilled ink over his and his partner's copies of Lancelot.

Jane's voice beside him caused him to jump; he had been watching Cole trace shapes on the desk three seats in front of him. "It was rude of Mr. Phillips to do that. I can't see why my sister likes him so."

"I'm sorry, pardon?"

"I'm Jane Andrews. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, hello."

Jane had a sunflower-yellow dress which reminded him of Cole and soft brown waves of hair pulled back with a bow of the same colour as her dress.

"My sister's Prissy. She's going to be engaged to Mr. Phillips soon," Jane blurted out before she realised what she was saying. Her face flushed pink.

"It's fine, I wouldn't tell anyone."

mr. phillips? really? how could anyone be so dumb or blind as to want to marry him? Silas thought.

"Thank you. It was really brave of you to say those things to Billy."

It was Silas's turn to feel embarrassed. He fiddled with the edge of his page and tried not to make eye contact. "I'm sorry. He's your brother, right?"

"Sadly," Jane sighed. She then laughed, a laugh so contagious he joined in with her.

Mr. Phillips entered the room and silence fell once again, though Jane smiled through the rest of the painful class.

♛ ✧ *✭˚･ﾟ✧*.

𝓥: two chapters in one night??!?! i write these at 3am who's gonna stop me