The School for Good and Evil: One Last Tale

3 - The Old Story

Sophie

I thought this would help, I really did. I know I'm getting more and more stressed about the wedding which is very unlike me. If I keep this up I'm going to get wrinkles and that is the last thing I want before my wedding. I've had to up my skincare routine just to ward them off but I think that's just making me more stressed.

That's why I thought visiting the school would help. Before the attention would always make me feel alive but it's not working. I'm still a celebrity, thank goodness. I'm the star of my own fairy tale and I was the Dean of Evil. It's only natural that the students would still worship me.

So why isn't it working? I should be loving this but I feel trapped. The School for Evil looks so much different to how I left it. Professor Manley has changed it back to how it was when I first arrived. Maybe that's why I feel so off, it reminds me of my first year at the school. Back when I really was Evil. I don't feel that way anymore, I feel Good. There may be some Evil in there but it's not at the surface like it used to be. I'm about to get my happily ever after which is something only someone who's Good can achieve.

I didn't even know where I was heading until I arrived. It looks so different too, well from when I redecorated. It looks exactly how it did when I came here with Agatha in my first year although I can't hear the familiar scratches of the Storian writing its latest story. That's weird. I look and the pen is just perched over an empty storybook. Maybe it hasn't found a good story yet.

The completed storybooks are still next to it. I wonder if our storybook is there? I scan the shelves of storybooks before I find the one I'm after. I pull it out and flick through the pages. It's weird seeing the moments you've lived transcribed into a book. I don't even know what I'm looking for until I find it.

Rafal. There he is, forever immortalised in this book. He looks just as breathtaking as he did when he was alive. I think that's what always hits me when I come to the school, the fact that he's no longer here. I know he was Evil and tried to kill all my friends but I do think he genuinely loved me.

"I wondered how long it would be until I saw you up here," a voice says behind me. I whirl around, instantly recognising the voice.

"What are you doing here Yuba? Surely you have some kind of lesson to teach?" I ask.

"I could ask you the same thing. You're not a student or a dean here anymore so you don't have any reason to be up here." I didn't mean to come up here, I just sort of did. 

"I needed some space." I really did need some space, it felt like everyone was overpowering me in the main part of the school with everyone around me. I guess as I used to have this as my private living space, I just sort of gravitated here.

"You needed some space from the crowd of students at the school who are begging for your attention? That doesn't sound like the Sophie I know."

"Well maybe I'm not that Sophie anymore." It's the first time that I've admitted it out loud. On the outside I may act like the same old Sophie but inside I just don't. Maybe the wedding nerves are getting to me more than I realised.

"I see you've decided to have a look at your storybook. Most of the teachers end up doing the same, don't you worry. " I slam the book shut and hurridely place it back where it came from. I feel embarrased in a way, even if Yuba says that most of the teachers do it too. "Although most teachers would not be staring at the face of their dead enemy."

"Rafal wasn't my enemy, not really." It's strange to think of Rafal as an enemy in our storybook. The roles can be deceiving in a fairytale.  At the start of this story I was the villain but then as the story carried on, the villain morphed into different people. Anyway, when it comes to my version of the story, Rafal was my love interest even if it did end in tragedy. 

"Sophie, he tried to kill Agatha and Tedros. I think that counts as being your enemy."

"Rafal loved me, he thought he was doing the right thing." I try to explain but I know it's not going to make a difference. Those on the side of 'Good' never do. That's the thing with Evil, all it is is people trying to do what they think is right. He cared for me and wanted to rule the woods in the way he thought was best.

"You can talk to me you know. I may not have been a teacher at the school of Evil but you were still my student."

I manage to not burst out in laughter. "What makes you think I want to talk to you?" The only person I've ever semi felt comfortable talking to is Agatha. No way am I going to talk to Yuba who is literally the reason why in second year that I turned into a boy which remains one of the worst experiences of my life. There is no reason why I would talk to him.

"The fact that you haven't stormed away." Yuba replies.

I think for a moment about what he's said. It's true, the old Sophie would have left this tower as soon as Yuba entered but yet I'm still here and there must be a reason for that. "Fine, I'll talk." I walk over to a chair and sit upon it whilst Yuba pushes another to where I'm sat. Remarkably he manages to climb onto it where he now stands. I take a deep breath before I say, "You see, I've been stressed about my wedding."

"That isn't surprising."

"The thing is, the closer it gets the more unsure I get. Am I doing the right thing in marrying Hort? I'm a Never and Nevers don't get happy endings."

"Throughout these past few years that I've known you Sophie, you've proved more than anyone that you deserve a happy ending, even if you are a Never."

"What if I've got it all wrong? It seems that every time that I've thought I got my happy ending it turns out not to be it." At first I thought my happy ending was with Agatha, then with Rafal and then with Rhian but each time they didn't last. How do I know that this isn't going to end in ruins again?

"Is that why you keep delaying the wedding?"

"I wasn't going to delay it. I thought leaving a large amount of time before it would help get rid of all the doubts I've had but the wedding is only a month away and I still don't know."

"Don't delay the wedding unless you have a genuine reason Sophie. I get that you're scared-"

"I'm not scared," I interrupt. 

"But this is the happy ending for you, I'm sure of it. You've just got to believe in it and it'll all work out."

"Really?" Believing in a happy ending seems too easy to work. Fairytales always seem to come with some kind of catch so it makes that there would be one when it comes to the ending. 

"I've seen enough fairytales during my life to know when there's a happy ending about to happen. This is one of those times Sophie." It makes me actually feel better, which is surprising. I'm not exactly sure how old Yuba is but if he really thinks that this is my happy ending, maybe it actually is.

"You've changed you know from the first time I saw you. I'm sure the old you wouldn't have been so supportive." 

"Well the old Sophie wouldn't have sat here and listened to her teacher. Look, we've been through a tough few years and that changes people, there's no shame in that." Yes, times change. No matter how hard I try, I'm not going to be the Sophie before and being honest, I wouldn't want to be. That doesn't mean that I can't evolve into something new. I want this happy ending and I'll get it, I know I will. 

"I should start heading back to Camelot, I do have a wedding to plan after all." I get up from my seat. "Thank you Yuba, really." Camelot isn't ready for the wedding I'm about to throw, it will be talked about for years to come. I suppose I don't have to head back straight away if I don't want to. I do have an adoring crowd waiting for me and I'd hate to disappoint.