~ 53: A Rueful Apology - Part 1 ~

Three days flew by and no Aidan came. I would go towards the open, hand railed area in the middle of all the Sections during the first recess each day, watching the two of them build their friendship with plenty of laughs from below.

Sometimes, I would envy them for not even bothering to fetch their friend. Mel would be the only one to come down to check on me and ask if I would be tagging along or not. We would talk for a minute or two before Aidan would phone for her to get to the second level.

Aidan hadn't bothered to come down even once. I had gone up only once towards his class with the excuse of searching for some ideas for my dress, which was partly, true but it was used only to see how he was faring. It felt like we weren't even friends anymore as he wouldn't even give me a wave or a glance when he saw me.

For an event that was months away, Ms Farleigh wouldn't stop bothering us about creating the best dress for ourselves on the day of the ball, calling it the "greatest occasion in our lives".

"It's the only time to show your unique talent to the whole school," she said rather excitedly. "And I'm willing to see you beat your seniors at it, despite the amount of training you have received. The best dress will win an award after we have assessed the quality, the style and how it looks on you. The one who designs it wears it, or else you lose out on the award.

"Keep in mind that the dress must be your own creation filled with your own ideas. It's alright to buy a dress from anywhere, but it must be redesigned by you. Except for the basic material of the dress, everything must be your very own creation. Otherwise, it will be called in for plagiarism and you shall be disqualified."

This lecture we would hear every morning at the start of the day, every time before we left the last class and whenever we had her class. Four days of hearing her sing her little song were enough to paste it in my head for centuries to come.

With no one to actually talk to, not even Mel as she was out with Aidan each day and finished her assignments when I was at work, I could only walk the corridors on my own, thinking about the dress.

I would climb random staircases during the second break, without a care in the world of what was going on around me, as I bit the back of my pencil. I would end up going to different Wings without realising that I had arrived there. Only the pealing bell would pull me out of my daze, and then I would be dashing through the open central corridors connecting all the Sections to get back to class.

On one such trip on the last school day of the week, I was busily making my way through people and correcting my drawing, intending to see the exhibitions at the Science Section. I was sure I was avoiding people very well, with the corners of my eyes focused around for protection, when someone bumped into me deliberately.

I looked up at the person to apologise for being a busy head. Yet he person had to be none other than Lucas, smirking at me. I had avoided him at school at all costs as he seemed rather firm and ignorant towards me. His cold demeanour would vanish only when we were out of the Wildon's borders, training in some far off place that I knew not.

"What have you got there?" he inquired, curiously peeking into my drawing as he chewed his gum.

"Nothing for you to see yet," I answered, snapping it shut and rolling it abruptly.

"Is it that regular assignment that I heard about? The one that Fashion Wing gives to all the students each year, yet only this time it will be showcased at the ball?"

"They give that every year? What have you been hearing with those ears of yours? Drawing a dress is one thing, but actually creating is another. Students would hardly have money if they spent it on the assignment!"

"I guess I got them muddled. The real question was why are you avoiding me?"

I wrinkled up my temples at his strange statement. Wasn't it obvious that he didn't want me in front of his sight at school?

"You think I am a different person to you here and a different person outside of Wildon? If you want it to be like that, just say so. Much easier to not bump into you then."

I stood there aghast at his behaviour as he quickly strode away from there. First off, he had checked into my head again and second, he was saying I couldn't understand what problem people had with me or where I went wrong.

I chased him down, still clinging onto the question I had without asking him head-to-head. The crowd seemed to have gotten thicker because of the unique innovations set up there. When I finally caught up to him, I caught his elbow in one hand, clutched his copper shirt with the other and leaned my head on his back to not lose sight of him.

I was breathing in his scent when he pulled me over to his side, with one arm hanging around my shoulders as he walked ahead. My paces were quicker as his legs took long strides. In a minute, we were standing in front of a stall and looking at a beautiful invention together. He then left my side and went to join his friends in the stall.

"What's up, man? You won a gold medal for us," said the middle one with great energy as the two happily pulled each other's arms strongly and patted the other's biceps. "Who's the beautiful young lady that you have brought?"

"Watch it, Sylvester," said Lucas with a hint of warning in his voice. "That's my cousin you are speaking to. But she's more like a little sister."

'How long are we going play that lie?' I asked him with slight concern. But he didn't respond, maybe because he wanted to act cold all along.

I introduced myself to Sylvester and we shook hands rather too firmly. He held my hand for a while longer before he let go.

"Nice pendant," he said and I realised it had peeked out from the gap between the buttons again. "You must be his distant relation, although which side would be hard to determine."

"That isn't important," Lucas said lazily from behind as he reclined on his chair and crossed his legs one over the other. "Aren't you going to introduce her to your little project? I brought her along so that you could get yourself some more people towards your stall."

"Ours, you mean. Anyways, this project..."

I had to listen to the end of the lecture without closing my eyes. Perhaps that was the reason people weren't visiting their stall despite the enthusiasm with which he said it. I made a mental note of the pointers that they needed to look out for.

I looked at Lucas, but he seemed least bothered to pass me a glance. I felt like he was purposely doing it after what I had thought it earlier. I wanted to plead to him to save me from this boring talk and tell me something interesting.

"Are you there, Miss Dixon?" Sylvester asked me when he was finally done, but I had spaced out wondering how it works. "You seem a little lost."

"I would like to know how it's useful for normal people and how to use it simply, not the whole manufacturing process," I put it out bluntly. "You need to market your product in simple terms."

That's when Lucas got up from there to explain it. I smiled brightly at his words and the simple way he put them out so that people from anywhere could understand them. He didn't lack in vocabulary, but compared to what I had heard earlier, I felt compelled to get it for myself.

He was barely close to finishing his speech when some people had come to listen in. Amongst them was one who pulled me so harshly by my arm that I yelped in pain and came to face with someone I hoped to not see again until the week ended.