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Amore house. london 1941.
As the rain raced down the dingy pane, Estelle Amore sat upon the windowsill with her legs curled up reading 'Little Women', evidently her favourite as the pages were crinkled and yellowed with use.
In her head, she was dancing with Laurie and Jo in a hidden room at a ball, or painting with Amy in her gallery, to the point where she almost missed her aunt's bellows to begin getting ready for school. She had attended St Finbar's for a while now yet still only found herself playing the piano with Beth or laughing with Meg most breaks whilst she ate her, usually cold, school provided meals.
Estelle had never made much of an attempt to interact with the other students nor did they to her. She liked it that way, after all, most girls her age weren't out shoplifting to scrape by or completing chores as demanded by their relatives. She glanced at her window, silently placing bets on which drop would reach the bottom first. The sun rarely shined in the Amore house, and even when it did, it only enhanced the grey, peeling wallpaper that enveloped the whole building.
That's why she loved reading. It gave her a chance to be in a new world, one full of life and adventure, some called it immature and nonsensical however Estelle truly believed that there must be more to her story than the dull house of her aunt Ruth. There must be more than the same recycled sentences of her peers, banishing her to a neverending, cruelly mundane existence. Jo took a life that destined her to marry rich and settle down, likely out of desperation and not love, and made it her own destiny to write. If the characters in her book could achieve it, so could she.
She delicately removed the french braid from her long light brown hair, allowing it to remain free and only slightly curly, and hurriedly pulled on the scratchy uniform forced upon her by the headteachers of St Finbars. Ready to begin her day which would undoubtedly be similar to the previous one and alike the one that followed.
She raced down the stairs, not before grabbing her part of the assignment that she had been, much to her dismay, paired with another student for. Fortunately for Estelle, that student was none other than Susan Pevensie, a quiet girl who sat upon the top of the class hierarchy as if it were a throne. Susan had been nothing but respectful and kind towards Estelle yet she couldn't help but envy the older girls natural academic abilities.
"Good morning Aunt Ruth, how did you sleep?" Estelle muttered, out of politeness rather than genuine curiosity. When she received only a hum in response, she took that as her cue to leave.
Ruth was a bland and cold woman with a harsh glare and stern manner. She held no interest in Estelle as a person and made it very obvious that she only tolerated her company because of the blood they shared. She often reminded the 14 year old how she expects the upmost respect for taking her under her roof instead of leaving her to be orphaned and alone, something she clearly believed to be a noble and generous act that deserved praise rather than the bare minimum for a family member. With no intention to linger, Estelle closed the large heavy door behind her and began her long walk to school.
The day had continued like most others, with Estelle attending her mandatory lessons and being assigned work to complete that evening. Eventually, lunch rolled around and Susan had practically jumped at the opportunity to get some more of their assignment complete. The two girls had chosen a small bench located near the front of the school and began their respective activities in comfortable silence, exchanging a few words as to not make it awkward.
That was until a small girl with brown hair rushed towards them in apparent excitement.
"Susan! Susan! Edmund and Peter will be waiting for us!" She informed the former.
Realising they had been working for about an hour, Estelle politely nodded at the girl as a subtle way of saying "go ahead" and softly smiled. Susan stood and made her way towards the girl who Estelle had assumed was her sister until the latter let out a small uncomfortable cough and nodded in her direction.
"oh right yes um- Estelle?" She lifted her gaze from her work and was met with the kind eyes of the older Pevensie.
"yes?"
"would you like to join me and Lucy at lunch? we usually meet up with our brothers, they attend Hendon House across the road."
Estelle was at a loss for words, not once in her time at school did she spend lunch with other students and couldn't help but feel like her invitation was only offered through pity.
"oh no that's okay, i wouldn't want to be a bother" she shot a smile at the two girls and silently prayed that they would accept her answer.
"don't be silly! come on, it would be nice to outnumber the boys for once!" the youngest encouraged. Not wanting to come off as ungrateful or rude, Estelle hesitantly accepted their offer with her stomach flipping with nerves.
After a few short minutes, Estelle suddenly found herself walking to a popular bagel stand with the 4 Pevensies. She had learned that the eldest, a blonde boy with his head held high, was Peter, and that the tall, dark haired boy with a permanent stoic expression was Edmund, the second youngest of the group.
The siblings all rambled and bickered, allowing Estelle to slip to the back of the group unnoticed, away from the boy's curious glances and questioning looks towards their sisters.
She really did appreciate the sentiment, however her lack of experience in interacting with people her age made it difficult for her to start conversations with them. The youngest boy, Edmund, had also clearly had enough of his sibling's rants and eventually fell into step with the unknown girl.
"Hello" Estelle quietly said, her voice betraying her in her attempt to sound confident and approachable.
"Hello" he returned, very much amused at her nervous introduction.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while until Edmund spoke up again, first this time.
"I'm sorry that Susan and Lucy dragged you into this, we're hardly the most entertaining family"
"No it's okay" she replied, mentally kicking herself for being so awkward.
"You're quite the talker aren't you?" sarcasm dripped from his tone.
For whatever reason, Estelle felt herself becoming frustrated at this, he clearly didn't understand how uncomfortable this situation was for her and she almost despised Susan for inviting her along in the first place.
"I could say the same for you." she scoffed.
Edmund just chuckled lightly at this and quickened his pace until he was back at the front next to his brother.
Once they had arrived at the bagel stand, each Pevensie bought themselves lunch, Estelle however found that she'd rather not waste her measly allowance on this when she could have easily just had a free school meal, deciding that she will instead opt for a second helping at dinner that night.
"You're not getting anything Estelle?" Lucy questioned the girl with a sincere look, a look that Estelle had not seen in years, she wondered why the young girl even cared in the first place, they hardly knew each other and Lucy had no reason to be concerned for her well-being at all.
"I'm not hungry right now" she stated with a shy smile, not wanting to admit the true reason and her cheeks burning up at the sudden attention from the siblings.
"Are you sure?" Susan added.
After a quick hum in response, which seemed to satisfy the Pevensie girls, the five found themselves strolling around the local park. Peter and Susan both hovered in the middle whilst Estelle resumed her usual position at the back of the group as they walked past a fountain, just in range to hear the conversation between the two eldest.
"I don't know why you even invited her Susan, she's quite dull"
"Be quiet Peter! she's just shy!" Susan whisper-yelled.
Upon hearing this, Estelle felt a surge of energy rush through her, he had known her for 15 minutes at most and had already concluded that she was dull.
Suddenly, Peter felt a splash of cold water hit the back of his head and quickly turned around, expecting the culprit to be his brother or his playful little sister. However, he was not expecting to see Estelle with a sheepish look on her face and a hand dripping next to the fountain.
"I'm so sorry i don't know what came over-"
she was cut off by a small wave of water spraying her in the face.
"It's on" Peter said with a serious look crossing his features but light-heartedness in his tone.
Within a matter of seconds, three of the Pevensies and Estelle were all in the fountain, missing their shoes and socks, splashing each other.
Edmund stood overlooking the scene with an amused smirk on his face until a blast of fountain water wiped it clean from his features.
"Come on then chatterbox" he made out over the squeals of his siblings.
"You're dead Amore".
word count: 1610 words
A/N:
i don't really know what to put here? again this is my first time writing anything like this so keep your expectations low :) feel free to let me know if there's any grammatical errors along the way.
anyway i just wanted to add a small chapter to properly introduce Estelle as a character and her relationship with the Pevensie's before we get into the real story, hope you enjoy <3