A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 20

(19 years old - 2nd day of school at Alfea)

It felt strange to be back at Alfea. I also felt extremely nervous. Today was the formal send off event for the crusade. It had been two months since I'd last seen Saul in person. He'd called me a few times but the talks were short, brief and made me realise that the crusade was the right decision. It might help me find a sense of direction and more importantly gives me hope of a safer, stress free future. I'd spent the Summer with Ben and Rose and it was the perfect reset I needed.

I had just entered the courtyard that had been decorated to the max and looked drop dead gorgeous with vines climbing the walls here and there when I spotted him, talking with a group of his friends. I made my way towards their group, walking as fast as my heels would let me, my curls bouncing along my shoulders and a huge, ridiculous grin on my face. I came up from behind him wrapping my arms around his torso and standing on the tips of my toes to rest my chin on his shoulder. I could see the smile forming on his face from the corner of my eye.

"Sorry, I already have a girlfriend." He joked, turning to face me.

I gave a fake sigh, "How unfortunate, 'cause you were really my type."

"Oh really?" He inquired, lifting his right brow slightly.

"Yes, really" I laughed, closing the distance, meeting his lips. "I missed you" I said, pulling back to face him

"I missed you too princess."

I was glad to see he still wasn't pissed about me signing up. When he saw my name on the roster he freaked out, in all honesty I think he felt guilty like it was his fault.

Terra always loved having her Aunt and Uncle over when she was younger. She got to see this side to them that was rarely there anymore, even in front of her. It used to make her believe that love was like a Fairy Tale. They probably didn't feel they needed to hide their feelings when she was around as she was family, their younger selves also probably never imagined that they would be running the school she'd attend.

As the event went on, more and more people showed up, some very important people too I might add. I spent the night staying close to Saul, following as we mingled between different groups of people, he'd always been the social one of the two of us. But I guess that's one of the reasons relationships work: opposites attract, to some degree.

A slow song started to play that juxtaposed the other songs that had been. Normally I wasn't much of a dancer, but I was about to jump into the uncertainty and I could tell Saul was feeling way too stressed about tomorrow.

"Dance with me." I said, grabbing his hand and starting to drag him towards the dance floor.

"What?" He asked, not buying into it.

"You need to relax, let loose a little" With that I finally got him to comply.

We danced until the end of the song, his hands steady around my waist holding me tight, my hands twisting strands of his hair. It was calming, like a lullaby. When the song ended no other music played and Rosalind marched her way onto the small stage. She gave some long speech which I basically zoned out. I was thinking about what to expect with the battalion when my trance was broken as Rosalind spoke out my name. I looked up to see that her eyes had already singled me out in the crowd full of people. She motioned me to come up, and hesitantly I made my way through the big crowds and up beside her.

"Farah Dowling," She started, a hand on the back of my shoulder to guide me out of her shadow. "Was my star pupil throughout her years at Alfea College. You should expect great things from her, especially as my protege." She glanced back to regard the shocked expression that would make its way to my face. I didn't even catch the rest of her speech, my head spinning with thoughts about what she just said. When the speech was over, I slowly made my way down the steps still in my trance-like state.