The School for Good and Evil: One Last Tale

1 - A Quiet Village

Sophia

I am bored with my life in Gavaldon.  This isn't a new feeling, it's been hanging around for a while but today it finally hit me with how bored I am. There is nothing to do in this stupid village! Sure, I wake up, go and help my mother and father at the local school but that's it. Why isn't there anything to do? Surely by now, somebody must have come up with something or I must have. Nope, there's still nothing to do.

I reach under my bed where I'm lying and feel around until I grab and pull out what I was looking for. 'The Tale of Sophie and Agatha' the words on the cover of the book read. There's not many of these books left. After the fight between Good and Evil, more of the books did appear but I'm one of the last with an original with the original ending. It's changed now, of course, to show Sophie beating Evil and everyone happy. I remember when the two of them kept changing the story and the book just refused to open, no matter how hard I tried. It was like magic (it probably was to be fair), once they had sealed the ending, the contents of the book had changed. The end was no longer the end and the rest of the story was told. It was pretty impressive.

Like I always do, I flick to my favourite parts in the book, full of illustrations. I see Sophie and Agatha first arrive at school, Sophie win the Circus Crown, Filip talking with Tedros. The words consume me, whisking me away. I turn further and further until I suddenly stop. There he is, again. On the page is Rafal, the evil school master. Whenever I read this book, I always end up stopping on him although I don't know why. He's evil and dead. There's something about this illustration though that pulls you in. It looks almost alive.

I slam the book shut. No, no matter how real illustrations look, it's just that an illustration. I close my eyes and try opening the book again. Maybe it was only a one time thing. I open it and there he is again, looking right into my soul. Every time it just shows him, like he's trying to tell me something. Five times I've tried opening to a random page and it always shows him. Maybe the page feels weird, or it's just a coincidence.

"Sophia, can you go to the market and get some bread, we've run out," I hear my mum ask.

"Okay mum," I reply, jumping off the bed. At least that will give me something to do. I grab a jacket before looking back at the book on the bed, still opened to Rafal. If only he could spring out of the book and take me away to the woods, maybe then life wouldn't be quite so boring.

I'm heading back from the market, bread in hand. I past by one of the monuments of Agatha and Sophie and look towards their feet. There's already a handful of applications already written for next year. The new school year started maybe two months ago and already the children left behind are eager to get picked next. Not me though, I'm staying behind. I was missed the first time round and anyway if I'd been picked, either Agatha or Sophie wouldn't have. It would have been Agatha. I may not apply to go to the school but I still think about what might have been. Last year the school sent some quizzes to see what school a child might be suited for and I got Ever. Of course I did, I'm sacrificing my shot at a fairy tale to help my parents.

The fact that I'm an Ever makes it weirder that I keep going onto Rafal's page in the book. He was the leader of Evil and I'm good. I must be reading too much into it, me and my overactive imagination at it again.

"What are you up to Sophia?" I turn to my left to see that Radley is beside me. Great.

"I've just been to the market. I need to get home though Radley," I say quickening my pace.

"Have you given my question anymore thought?" I stop in my tracks and sigh. Radley asked me to be his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago and I've been avoiding him since. Yes, I'm friends with him and he's a nice guy but that's where it stops.

"I've already told you Radley but I just don't feel the same way, we're just good friends. Anyway, aren't you only asking me to be your girlfriend because Belle rejected you?"

Radley shifts obviously feeling uncomfortable. "I don't see what the connection is there."

"Didn't you also only get close to Belle because Sophie was taken to the school? Ever since she left and the storybooks came out, you've been working out more. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, you're working out more like Hort did! Radley please don't tell me that you're trying to change yourself for Sophie. She's not coming back."

The poor guy, he still can't get Sophie out of his head even after all those years. I've never felt that way about anyone, I wonder what it must be like. "Maybe a little bit is because of that but none of us are kids anymore. Not me, not Sophie, not Agatha and not you. Dad's already telling me that I need to think about who I'm going to make my future with. This is a small village, there are only a handful of girls and most of them have already rejected me."

It's something I haven't allowed myself to think about but he's right. I'm not getting any younger now and each passing day pushes me further towards an unsure future. What would I even do? I may help at the school but I don't have any dreams. In terms of getting married, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Like Radley said, this is a small village and he's the only boy who actually talks to me. I guess it's better to keep that door open just in case. "Fine, I'll promise to think about it some more but that's all I can promise. I really do need to get back home though."

A huge grin spreads across Radley's face. "That's fine with me. I'll see you later Sophia," he says with a wave before walking off. That guy is too easy to please. I carry on with my walk back home but once again, my mind drifts towards Rafal. He may have been one of the greatest evils but I will admit he was kind of cute. Eww, that's gross Sophia, he was hundreds of years old. He may have looked young but he definitely was not. If he was young, would it be different? I imagine if there was someone like that who lived in this village, they wouldn't give me any notice. I suppose a girl can dream though.