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NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
ISOLDE'S POV
For someone who had just been falsely accused, I was doing rather fine.
Other than the small fact that I feel betrayed by Akira for some reason. Well, I had no one to blame but myself.
He's a noble. You don't trust nobles.
I woke up earlier than the bell and made my bed while humming a soft tune. I was in a good mood. I had made a new friend after all!!!!
Yesterday while walking to our rooms, Esme asked me if she could sit with me and my friends in the hall. I will not lie, it really took me by surprise. I asked her about her friends just to be sure.
To that, she scoffed and said, "Friends? You are my friend. They were like leeches. They dropped me as soon as those noble girls entered the scene. Huh! As if I actually needed them. They were the ones who needed me. Now they'll probably follow one of the noble girls. I'm telling you, these girls will always remain in supporting roles, never to get the crown."
She flipped her hair at the end probably just for the sake of dramatic flare.
So I said yes to her request. Now from today onwards, she'll sit with us.
Again I squealed. I have three friends in total!!! I couldn't even have imagined this back in the village.
Dhara, Arthur and Esme - I repeated these names over and over and smiled to myself.
I was not an island anymore, I was part of a continent now.
Dhara on the other hand did not look to be in the mood of my beautiful if not a bit out of tone humming.
"Will you stop looking so happy? Dayuu hasn't come with any good news yet. What if those girls lie and frame you? What if you get punished?" she looked really worried even though I told her I don't mind getting punished.
For me, the biggest punishment will be getting sent back and Dayuu promised that will not happen. So I was just dandy.
My eyes fall on Eboni's empty bed and my mood dampen. She didn't come back yesterday. Where was she? Was she okay?
I was startled out of my thoughts by the loud knock that came from the door. Dhara quickly jumped off the bed and ran to get it.
"Morning girls! I have some good news. The girls confessed it was them after a tiny bit of interrogation. Apparently both of them planned it together but then got scared of the repercussions and decided to make you the scape goat instead," Dayuu informed in a loud voice as soon as Dhara opened the door.
A sigh of relief escaped my mouth at the announcement. Even though I said I don't care if I get punished, getting proved innocent still made me happy.
It felt good, for the first time in my life, I thought maybe life wasn't so unfair after all.
Maybe I had gotten too used to the injustice towards myself that I forgot to fight back. Life had been so harsh to me, I had forgotten what hope was.
Just when I was about to wipe the tears that had unknowingly rolled down my cheeks, I felt a pair of hands wrapping around my shoulders.
Dhara. I looked up to see her head buried in my shoulders; shaking.
"I was so worried. I thought they would punish you. You are my first friend here. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help you," she somehow managed to say in between her sobs.
It felt nice, to be cared for. I had almost forgotten how it felt too.
People were looking. They were gaping, whispering, and pointing. At us. Specifically at Esme who was sitting at our table.
"I know I am worth looking but please do be discreet," Esme suddenly spoke out loudly at no one in particular. A group of onlookers at the next table looked ashamed and went back to their food.
Other than that, she didn't look particularly bothered. Leisurely munching on her salad and sneaking food off of Arthur's plate, Esmeralda Garcia was the epitome of unbothered.
She looked nothing like the so-called "Fallen Queen" the Academy gossip mongers have named her.
In fact, she read the article, "Lord save the Queen" out loud in front of us and had a blast while she did it. She pointed out all the real and fake things they wrote about her and exposed a lot about the person who wrote the piece of garbage.
"So now that people are done making us feel like zoo attractions, we can commence onto more important topics," Esme caught our attention with her words and also with the loud clapping that followed.
"Topics such as?" Arthur asked. He looked to be very accepting of the person whose fashion sense he never seemed to like.
"Such as lovers, admirers, stalkers, where you've hidden dead bodies of them etc," Esme answered as she tried to open a particularly stubborn bottle of nail paint.
Is that what friends talk usually talk about?
"You want us to talk about who we fancy or who fancy us?" Dhara asked, helping Esme open her nail polish. Esme beamed at her.
" Let's talk about who you have fancy. I'll go first, I like Omar Abbas in the third year, the dashing brother of that little twit, Naeem Abbas, and like dozens of hormonal fools seem ready to die for me," Esme said, trying not to mess up her nail paint.
"Wait, you like the flirty snake boy's older brother?" Arthur asked a bit too loudly.
"Go on, announce it on the notice board, why don't you?" Esme hissed at him and glared at the nail paint that went out of her nail.
Dhara took the brush from Esme and started doing her nails. She laughed and asked, "Flirty snake boy?"
"Yeah yeah I know, not the best moniker out there. But it fits," Arthur said with a chuckle.
"Okay, your turn, sword boy," Esme said, the nickname referencing Arthur's blessing with Sword Magic.
Hopefully.
"You do know how that name sounds like, don't you?" Arthur said with an eye wiggle and all the girls made a grossed out sound.
"Just talk about the lady of your fancy, little boy. If I wanted to know about your handsome, I would've gone to Magical Anatomy class," Esme said while looking bored.
"Why Magical Anatomy class?" Arthur asked looking confused.
"Cause they have microscopes there," Esme said with a fake cheerful smile at Arthur.
Dhara laughed out first then I joined. It takes me a few minutes to get jokes.
Arthur looked offended for a minute then started to laugh too.
The group at the next table was looking at us again. Great.
"Okay back to the topic, Microscopic Anatomy, it's your turn", Esme got our attention again.
Arthur sighed at the name but otherwise complied, "I don't like anyone and I don't think anyone likes me too."
Dhara looked crestfallen at that.
"Not at the moment maybe, but you might just find the person if you look around," I said hoping to cheer Dhara up.
I saw Esme looking at us, "Yes, Arthur, just look around. Beautiful people everywhere. What do you say, Dhara? You like anyone?"
Dhara gave a grateful smile to me and Esme and said, "I mean I do like someone but I don't feel comfortable telling you about him."
"Why?" Arthur asked looking lost, "Oh Forever King, is it the night guard Dullahan? I heard some girls talking about his appealing physic!" He looked horrified and so did we.
The Dullahan was our thousand years old cursed night guard and his hobby included chopping people's heads off. Why would anyone be attracted to him??
"No, it's not. What on earth, Arthur? He is perfectly human," Dhara protested.
"Fine fine, I get it, Sorry. Now it's Izzy's turn", Arthur quickly changed the topic, probably sensing Dhara's fury.
"I don't have like anyone and I'm sure no one fancies me either," I said, knowing full well no one liked the gloomy girl sitting at the back of every class.
"Are you sure about that, Ice- Queen?" Esme called me out by that stupid name again. She eyed me with a smirk on her face. Her twinkling eyes spelled mischief and secrets only she knows.
"Of course I'm sure, Who would like me?" I said forcefully, making sure to make the finality in my words clear.
"Keep telling yourself that, my sweet innocent baby bird. Cause I definitely saw a dragon eyeing you," she said with her smirk in place much to the confusion of Dhara and Arthur.
A Dragon?
I feel like I understood her meaning and I didn't like it nor did I believe any of them.
*Dullahan: The headless horseman from Irish folklore who likes to collect heads in hope of finding his missing one.
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