Chapter Ten

Monday came slowly and Christie and Silvia were feeling dejected. Both had made more friends during the two days, but even with this, they couldn’t help but yearn for each other. Somehow, even though they saw each other at breakfast, lunch and dinner, there wasn’t a single chance they could speak to one another. It was really quite queer, because once they started to make way, a hopeful smile blossoming, a friend would cut in and begin a conversation. Silvia simply understood, thinking Christie was happy without her and seeing her happy was enough(which was a lie), but Christie felt the complete opposite. Her hands balled into fists and her teeth clenched tight with annoyance of this snag. She noticed that Ravana was curiously watching her each time, waiting for her power to burst.

“Ohh,” she would sigh with disappointment when nothing happened and quickly smirked as she said, “until next time.”

It was the first day of classes when Silvia and Christie finally had the chance to speak. During breakfast, Silvia had been waiting in the food line when something, no, someone grabbed her from behind.

“Who-” Silvia stared and gasped when she saw. It was Christie, who was looking around.

“Follow me.” Christie hissed and dragged her away and stopped behind a large tree where no one could see them.

“Ohmygosh, Christie! I thought you didn’t care about me! I thought you were happier with your new friends. I tried to forget about you and be with my new friends, but, trust me, I couldn’t. I had to try and talk to you everyday, but we always failed. Yes, I saw you trying to talk to me, too. I thought you just wanted to say that you preferred your other friends now and...and..” Silvia babbled excitedly, her eyes shining with tears.

“I missed you, Silvia. I really did, and there’s no way I could ever prefer someone else over you, Silvia. You’re basically my sister.”

“Some people are judging me, now,” Silvia said sadly, “A girl called Emily turned her back on me as soon as she heard I had a friend who’s in the vile academy.”

“Who cares?” Blurted Christie. “We only need each other. If we just have each other, we don’t need any other friends, right?”

Silvia looked at her, still looking very sad.

“Christie, I can’t just have you as my only friend. I need other friends, too. My roommates, well, only two of my roommates are friends with me and a few other girls I befriended, they’re all very nice. I want to be friends with them, too.” Silvia murmured and stared down at the ground. Anger flashed through Christie’s body.

“But, Silvia, surely you’re kidd-”

“I’m not,” said Silvia looking up, “I need more than one friend and if that one friend isn’t going to be happy with me having more friends for once, then, maybe she isn’t my friend, because true friends are always happy for each other no matter what.”

“Silvia, this is diff-”

“This isn’t different! I have my own life, Christie! I can do what I want to do. For my whole life, I only hang out with one person, and that person is you. And because you didn’t hang out with others, I didn’t either! You know why? Because I wanted you to be happy, and I know that there were times when you didn’t even like me at all. That includes that day when you said you felt sick and ran home, faking your illness.”

“How did you-” But, Silvia continued her angry rant.

“Oh, yes I knew, because when I looked into your eyes, all I saw was hate. Bitter hate and jealousy. Honestly, now that I think about it, I think you belong in your school.” Her expression was cold and furious.

“Silvia!” Someone called. Silvia looked up. It was Charlotte and Estelle who’d spotted her and were waving at her to come.

“Come! We should start heading to our first class!” Yelled Estelle.

“Don’t want to be late, do you?” Added Charlotte.

“Okay!” Silvia called back. She looked at Christie once more. “Now, they are who I’d call real friends.” She said, turned around and ran back, smiling and waving at Estelle and Charlotte.

“Silvia!” Christie called desperately. But Silvia simply ignored her and joined her friends.

“Who’s she?” She heard Estelle(though she didn’t know her name) ask.

“Oh, no one in particular.” Sivia replied.

“Is she your vile friend?” Asked Charlotte.

“Well, I guess, she was!” Silvia emphasised on the last word loudly.

“Ohh, what happened?” Estelle questioned, very curiously. The second girl seemed eager to hear what had happened, too.

“If you want to know, whew, well, here goes. So, I finally got the chance to talk to Christie when she pulled me out of the breakfast line and pulled me away…” Her voice faded as she-with her friends- walked further away from her. Sighing, Christie trudged back to the table where Ravana and Lamia were sitting.

“What happened? You look sad.” Said Ravana, observing her closely. Christie scowled and kicked an empty chair, sending it flying to the sky. “Huh.” She muttered. “I didn’t even kick it that hard.”

“Woah. Nice kick.” Cackled Lamia.

“You seem to be really strong, Ravana noted. “Hey! Maybe your powers is extra strong strength!” She cried excitedly.

“I doubt it.” Christie said coldly.

“Hey, what is up with you?” Lamia’s face had gone pale and was frowning.

“Nothing!” Christie yelled, angrily.

“Doesn’t seem like nothing to me.” Christie looked up from the ground and found Lamia glaring at her.

“You don’t need to lie to us. You’ve been down since Saturday. What’s bothering you, huh?” Said Ravana in a low voice.

“Why does it matter to you?” Growled Christie.

“It matters to us because you’re our friend, are you not?” Said Ravana. To this, Christie had no answer. She fidgeted with her finger guiltily.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled.

“It’s okay. But, just tell us what’s wrong.”

“Um..well, you might hate me when I tell you this. But, well, erm, I have a friend in the honour academy.” She looked up from the ground. Ravana’s and Lamia’s faces were unreadable.

“Go on.” Ravana urged.

Christie’s heart raced as she continued.

“There were times she knew that I hated her and she exploded on me.” She said quickly, all in one breath.

“Then why is she angry now?” Wondered Ravana.

“Yeah,” said Lamia, “she could have been angry back then.”

“It’s not just that,” Christie mumbled. “I said that she shouldn’t have any friends at her school because having just me is enough.” She glared back down at the ground guiltily.

“Such an evil thing to say.” Said Ravana.

“Brilliant.” Said Lamia. Christie lifted her head as she heard Lamia’s amazed sounding “Brilliant”. Both were grinning as she looked at them.

“Brilliant?” Christie’s face was positively puzzled.

“Duh.” Lamia rolled her eyes.

“C’mon,” grinned Ravana, “you’re in the vile academy! Remember?” She laughed.

“Oh,” Christie muttered, “right.”

“It’s quarter to nine.” Said Ravana, glancing down at her watch.

“Let’s go to class.” Said Lamia.

Swinging an arm around Christie, Ravana groaned, “don’t look so sad. We have history first-wait. Aw man, history?! Nevermind what I said. You should look sad.”

At this, Christie held back her laughter.

“We’re probably gonna learn about the ancient viles and why they’re well known and the cause of their death and blah blah.” Lamia complained.

“D’you know who we have?” Asked Christie.

“Apparently we have a really strict teacher. Her name is Madam Crow.” Said Ravana in a sudden hushed voice.

“Yeah and she punishes you if you make the slightest mistake.” Added Lamia.

“So harsh.” Ravana shuddered.

The bell rang, signalling ten minutes left until first class would start.

“We should really hurry.” Suggested Christie, looking rather nervous. The others nodded in agreement and all began to walk faster towards their classroom.