Playing Perfect

12. Encre

12. Encre

Ink

August came with cold winds and light rain.

This was especially frustrating when Alice and the rest of the Year Twelve students were forced to wait outside of the Great Hall, fifteen minutes early for every trial paper. Alice shivered, pulling her scarf tighter around her neck. Her hair was getting wet, and she knew it would frizz up if they didn't go inside soon.

Week one had come and gone, and with English, chemistry, and maths out of the way, she was beginning to feel a lot less stressed. The start of week two brought her business exam, which Alice found easier than the practice papers she'd completed anyway, and then a religion test full of all the content she'd found most confusing.

All she had left was a legal studies test, and then she could relax.

Heather stood beside her, tapping on her phone as the rest of the students crammed in the last of their notes. They'd attempted to tuck themselves as close to the doors as possible, hoping for some shelter from the rain and to be the first ones in when they opened.

Around them, the remainder of the class began to join the crowd. She spotted a white-blond head of hair bobbing at the back of the crowd and knew it was Finn.

"Is he still bothering you?"

Alice started, having momentarily forgotten that Heather was there. They hadn't spoken a word other than greeting each other ten minutes ago.

Alice turned to her. "What? Who?"

"Finn Cauley, of course," Heather replied. She met Alice's eye. "Who did you think I was talking about?"

"No one," Alice said quickly. She hadn't spoken to him in weeks. "I mean, no. No. He's been quite distant lately, hasn't he?"

Heather shrugged, turning back to her phone as Alice continued to watch Cauley from afar. Trials were always a hectic time. Students were preoccupied with studying and preparing for exams, and if it wasn't that, then they were busy thinking about the Debutante coming up, or graduation.

These were their final months together as a grade—as high school students. The air buzzed in the hallways, an equal mixture of excitement and anxiety.

Finn had faded into the bustle of the student population. He hadn't attempted to talk to her since their run in at her house, and she had stopped noticing him in the hallways.

Things were returning to normal.

Suddenly, Finn's head turned, and his eyes landed on Alice. She warmed, quickly looking back down at her notes. Things were just starting to go back to normal. She needed to forget about Cauley.

She turned to Heather, attempting to focus on the brown-haired girl beside her.

"Not nervous?" Alice asked. Heather blinked, turning to meet her eye.

"Nervous? What would I be nervous about?"

Alice paused, as if waiting for the punchline of a joke. When it didn't come, she nodded towards the school building. "For the legal exam?"

"Oh," she said. She shrugged, pocketing her phone and brushing drops of rain from her plaid skirt. "Not really. I was raised on this crap. It's just another day for me, really."

Alice had forgotten her parents were lawyers. She sighed, folding her papers, and shoving them into her backpack, officially giving up on cramming.

"I'm jealous," Alice teased. "I don't know why, but memorising quotes for English or religion is so much easier than memorising cases for legal."

Heather shrugged again. "I thought you were good at everything."