❝ there was a difference between living and existing, and for the first time, phoebe felt like she was living. and wasn't that a marvellous thing?❞
[book 1]
in which a boy calls a girl irrelevant, but somehow manages to fall in love with her anyway...
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Phoebe wasn't expecting much to happen on a day when it was absolutely pouring with rain. Mrs. Macready had informed her that she didn't need to do any housework, her bed was warm, and she couldn't exactly go for a walk in the garden.
Of all the things she expected to happen, having the elder Pevensie sister burst into her room was not one of them.
Unfortunately, knowing her luck, that was exactly what happened.
Her door slammed open and Phoebe sat bolt upright, eyes wide. Her eyes met the girl's - Susan, wasn't that her name? - and found that hers were just the same.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Susan covered her mouth with her hand, shocked. "We're playing hide and seek, I didn't think anyone would be in here, I'm so sorry!" Phoebe was still taken aback by the fact that a total stranger was now standing in her room.
"What will they make you do if you lose?" Susan smiled thankfully at her, shutting the door and sitting down onto the floor.
"Go out and fetch more wood, probably. We're running out." She shrugged, and Phoebe tilted her head to the side.
"In this weather? Nothing you get will burn." Susan nodded, rolling her eyes.
"I did try to tell Peter that, but he wouldn't listen." Phoebe felt her eyes widen slightly at the mention of Peter's name. "You know Peter?" Susan was clearly more perceptive than she thought.
"I know of him, I suppose." Phoebe shrugged. She didn't exactly know how else to explain it.
Some part of her was hoping that maybe, just maybe, she and Susan could be friends. After all, it was difficult not to feel loneliness after you had a taste of what it would be like to live without it.
"Oh! You must be the girl he saw in the window!" Phoebe blushed - she practically felt her ears turn red. She'd never liked her ears. The professor always said she'd grow into them, but it had been fifteen years and she was still waiting.
"Guilty as charged, I guess." Phoebe tried her hand at a sort of smile, but she doubted it worked out.
"I must admit, I thought he was quite mad. Thought he might've been seeing ghosts." Phoebe laughed then, a real laugh. She liked Susan, she decided, as the younger girl laughed along with her.
"Well, I always thought this house was haunted when I was little. You never know." Susan nodded, making a sort of bizarre humming noise under her breath.
"Peter will be stunned if he finds out I met you first. His face, oh, it would be priceless!" Susan was giggling slightly, obviously thinking of times when her brother had made strange faces.
"No!" Phoebe exclaimed rather loudly, and Susan looked at her, puzzled. "I mean, just, please don't tell him you met me." Susan cocked her head to the side.
