Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 16 - "Take my word for it, why don't you?"

Lily

I debated telling him. Maybe he would understand and then maybe we could just be friends. Or maybe he would spread it around the school and then everyone would know. I didn't want that. My brain ached with indecision. I didn't know what to do. I really didn't know what to do.

Elle

After Emma and I had freed Jake, I found myself at a loss for what to do. I'd just succeeded in pulling off the most risky thing I'd ever done, committing a crime and earning the wrath of Jake. But, I fel I wandered amongst the campus, feeling lost and alone. I didn't know what to do. I felt hollow and empty inside, void of emotion, like I was waiting for something to happen. The problem was, I didn't know what I was waiting for. It was around nine, and Prepsworth was already shrouded in darkness. It was slightly cold, and I shivered as I walked through the grass. Somewhere music pounded and I caught a glimpse of Rose, hair flying around as she stumbled and jumped up and down in time with the music. People were crowded around her, looking at her almost reverently, as though she was the sun. She had a wild look on her face, her lips curved into what was not quite a smile. For a moment, I felt a pang of jealousy and wished that just once, people could be crowded around me, and I could be so carefree. I couldn't quite pinpoint what Rose looked like, what her emotions could be, but I wished I could be her. The jealousy passed with a shock as I remember what had happened to her. Lukas in hospital, Jake lead away in handcuffs, still arrested for all that she knew. I shrugged it off, laughing at myself. I guess I really had changed.

After an unknown amount of time, I found myself standing in the middle of my favourite garden, one I hadn't visited for years. It had ivy, roses and honeysuckle crawling up the sandstone walls, covering them until you could only see flashes of the grey stone beneath. Fairly lights were strong in between and inside the flowers, creating tiny glittering pin-pricks of light dotted in the walls. The lights stretched across the entirety of the fairly small garden, a spider-web of flowers and light. In the middle of the garden was a large fountain with quietly burbling water falling from three layers and escaping through the top of the fountain again in a spray of droplets of water. It was magical, the kind of garden I'd only dreamed about before I came to Prepsworth. I smiled, breathing in the scented air and closing my eyes, knowing the lights would only be more beautiful against the darkness of the night when I opened them again. I was about to sit down when I heard a voice.

"Pretty, isn't it?". Of course. With my luck, I should've known. I looked up and struggled not to glare at Dylan.

"Very."

Dylan

Elle looked almost annoyed to see me there, standing in the entrance to the garden she looked ready to walk back out, her face twisted in a frown.

"You don't have to leave. It's okay, no one else is here to see you standing here looking embarrassed!". I said, noting her clenched jaw. At this, Elle quickly glanced around the garden.

"Take my word for it, why don't you?" I said sarcastically.

"It's fine. I'll just go. I kind of just wandered in here anyway and I should probably study." Elle said, still not moving.

"And here I was thinking we were getting along well, but study if you need to." I remarked pointedly. It was only Wednesday in the first week, and we only had a couple of hours worth of homework, that I was fairly sure Elle would've completed already. Still, I didn't exactly want to face a tired and irritable Elle, and I convinced myself that I didn't care if she left. Elle nodded in response, but sat on a bench near her.

"Interesting way of studying." Elle frowned at me.

"Shut up."

"Fine. Sorry." I said, before sitting back.