I had known Lucy for a few months already and in this time, we had become very close friends. She was always nice, compassionate about others and kind. It was no wonder people were drawn to her left and right, especially because she was always so easy going.
But that day at the beginning of summer, she showed us a vastly different side of herself.
It all started completely normal with my usual breakfast and then singing in front of the mirror while brushing my teeth. Afterwards, I stuffed my backpack with everything I needed that day and happily walked out of my room, only to go back to take my beloved necklace with me.
After greeting a few other moody students who trotted through the hallway, I strolled towards our classroom. I didn’t know why the first classes were replaced with homeroom that day, but it was usually a rather relaxing time. If it wasn’t for Ellie. She was quite the lovely girl, but the way she tried to drive Lucy and Louis apart was going on everyone’s nerves.
Lucy wasn’t even interested in Louis … at least that’s what she told me, but Ellie was dead set on picking a fight with her whenever she could. And in the middle of everything was Louis who was pitied by everyone else.
He still had a massive crush on Lucy who never denied his approaches outright probably because she feared it would hurt him, but also never welcomed his attempts. She always kept him at a certain distance, way shorter than the other boys who also had a crush on her, but further away than me or Sofie. I seriously didn’t want to be in his shoes.
But that day, as I stepped into the room, these two weren’t talking. Something seemed to stress Lucy which never happened before. She was quite tense and only smiled a little bit as we made eye contact.
Thus, I couldn’t help but to walk over towards her and look at her a bit confused. Her hands seemed to grab her knees hard and she kept nibbling on her lower lip.
“Is everything alright?” I was really worried about her. She usually was completely calm and weathered off every storm there was.
“Me? Yeah, totally.” She didn’t look like it. One glance to Louis showed me he didn’t know what was up with her either, so it was my task to find out what was wrong. Maybe it had something to do with her work as the saint?
“Okay … are you nervous?” I asked innocently, hoping to hear an awesome story about what she did after school. She was really evasive about that topic, but I knew she worked really hard on something.
“No? Not at all … did you know there is a school trip planned?” She asked and looked at me with wide open eyes.
“Oh, really?” I asked happily. We could spent so much time together in a place we were both unfamiliar with.
“Yes. There are three different destinations. One for each year … there is the elven forest, the frosty mountains of the south or a large inland lake in the east.” Two of them sounded like great destinations, but I seriously didn’t know why the mountains were even on that list.
“A lake? With a beach?” That one was by far my most favourite pick. I always wanted to go to an ocean, but sadly they weren’t that nice of a place anymore. Even seafaring was out of the question since a long time ago thanks to the demons living in the deep waters.
“It’s apparently a tourist destination …” Lucy muttered and looked behind me towards the door as her sister stepped into the room.
“I love the beach! I really hope we go there.” I heard one couldn’t see the ground in these lakes. And honestly, lakes always made for a great scenery.
“And. So do … I.” She muttered, just as Miss Dove cleared her throat, signalling everyone of us to sit down on our chairs.
“Where are we going?” A girl in the front row asked eagerly for everyone in the room.
“You know the fact that we have a trip shouldn’t be public yet? Kids these days …” Miss Dove commented dryly and looked at Lucy with a little worry in her eyes. That much was apparently enough to push Lucy over the edge as her eyes got wider and wider. “It’s the lake.” Some of my classmates threw their hands in the air and started chatting with their neighbours right away.
Even I was happy about our destination but Lucy … she looked shocked to say the least. I could see her muttering something quietly and even Louis who poked her shoulder couldn’t drag her out of that state. At least, until she closed her eyes a little and then opened them once more. The usual friendly smile reappeared on her face right away and she started to talk to a perplexed Louis happily. It was as if everything I saw never happened in the first place.
“Now … what’s next …” Miss Dove mumbled, unhappy that the class had turned into a mess. “Oh, right!” Sometimes I still had the feeling she hand no idea what to do in her role as a teacher, even though it got way better since the very beginning. “Rooms are for two. Make sure you stay with someone you get along …”
Another wave of noice filled the room as the others scrambled to their friends and made arrangements.
“Hey, Luna … you’ll be asking Lucy, right?” I was certain my neighbour wanted to share a room with me, but she was right. I wanted to share a room with Lucy, that was for sure. “I’m sorry.” Luckily she didn’t mind it much and gave me a thumbs up as I stood up.
“Hey, Luc-“ I started once I was at her desk, but stopped as soon as she looked into my eyes with this piercing, but friendly gaze and took my hands.
“Yes! Yes! Yes and yes!” Sometimes words were unnecessary and it wasn’t that hard for her to guess what I wanted.
Like this, we came to share a room on our first adventure together. One of many that followed afterwards …
“Alright! You all keep on doing … stuff. And I’m going to bed now.” Hannah said loudly and turned away to leave the room, but stopped once she was halfway through the room. “Before I forget it … I was supposed to plan this trip in advance, but I’m kind of busy right now and I’m really not in the mood, so you guys can do that. As long as it is beneficial as a team building exercise, I don’t care what you do … see you next week.” And with that, she left us alone like no teacher should do.
“I’m for a cheerleading contest!” One of the older boys proposed right away. Several of the girls immediately objected, including me while Lucy just placed her forehead onto the table.
“We definitely need a shopping day.” One of the girls proposed, which earned her a lot of groaning from the boys. For several minutes it went on like this, until Lucy stood up from her seat, passed by me and strolled to the chalkboard. Not many noticed her right away, but as she dragged a few fingernails across the chalkboard, she had all the attention she needed.
“Okay … here is the thing. My sis sometimes says one thing, but actually means something else entirely. She told us she didn’t care, but she also cannot let this trip go to waste. We will go with all of these other first years, so other teachers will watch her as well. She wants us to have fun, but we also need to make sure whatever we do doesn’t look bad for her. So … no cheerleading contests, no shopping sprees, and no fooling around. We have two weeks there … let’s make sure to make the most of it for everyone. What are your ideas?” If we had to vote for a class representative, it would surely be her. Quite amazed by the way she handled the situation, I sat down on her chair and lifted my arm.
“We could make a tour through the city once. It’s a perfect pick for the first day, even though it’s not exactly interesting, but it gives us an overview of where what is … except for you … I guess.” Nearly the whole class laughed as everyone knew about her struggles to arrive on time thanks to losing her way constantly. A bit defeated, she turned around and wrote my proposal down onto the blackboard.
“I was there with my family once before. There is a crazy hiking trail which lets you see the whole area …” Proposal after proposal was collected by her even though she was visibly uncomfortable with a few of them. Others were directly shot down by her, mostly because they weren’t very feasible or downright mean to some of our classmates.
As the bell rang, we already had enough proposals and had voted on each and every one of them. Lucy took it upon herself to note everything down and hand it over to Miss Dove later.
And with that, we were basically set to start our first adventure as a class.
Afterwards, our day progressed as usual. First was my history lesson with Lucy, then we had lunch in the cafeteria with a few more friends and two more lessons afterwards.
I was quite absentminded during these lessons though, and couldn’t help but to think about Lucy’s reaction to being told we were heading towards the lake.
She never was anything but friendly to anyone around her, and while I knew friendliness wasn’t her whole personality, but reacting this weirdly was … odd for her.
Out of concern, I thus found myself right at the doorstep to the teachers’ dorms and knocked against the door a few times. The biology teacher opened the door and after explaining I wanted to see Lucy, he promised he would knock on her door.
Luckily Lucy was around and greeted me with a smile on her lips.
“Hey … I … how should I put this?” I stumbled over my words, not really knowing how I should express my worries. As far as I was aware, she was more than capable of dealing with her issues on her own, so it was kind of hard for me to offer my help.
“You want to marry me?” She asked and chuckled while holding her hand in front of her mouth.
“By the gods! Lucy!” She also knew how to break the ice and made her the easiest to talk to by far.
“Oh that’s not it?” She asked and rubbed her eyes while sniffling theatrically.
“So anything wrong with going to the lake? Is it dangerous there?“ She looked at me a bit stunned, but soon stepped out of the doorframe laughing loudly.
“Shall we go a bit?” After getting away from the building, she exhaled loudly and smiled awkwardly. “You know, it’s not like the lake is bad in any way. But I had hoped to visit the elven forest. I do have a history with the elves after all and I really wanted to see their home once.” She explained and shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s it?” I asked stupefied. Her reaction was a bit over the top for this reason if I was honest.
“Hmm … have you heard that the elven king died a few years ago? I think there is more to his death than we know. With his abilities, the elves and humans alike wouldn’t need to concede territory to the demons at all…” She said quietly and looked around to see if there was anyone around who might overhear us.
“You think he was murdered by demons?” I asked in shock.
“No. I’m thinking of something more …” She pointed towards the sky for a few seconds and then turned her back to me. “Don’t tell anyone, alright?”
With that, everything became clear to me. She had hoped to get to the elven forest because she wanted to investigate for the benefit of us all. It warmed my heart to know how deeply she cared about our survival and it also explained why she wasn’t so keen on going to the lake.
That day, I thought she let me in on one of her biggest secrets … how wrong I was.
I had known Lucy for a few months already and in this time, we had become very close friends. She was always nice, compassionate about others and kind. It was no wonder people were drawn to her left and right, especially because she was always so easy going.
But that day at the beginning of summer, she showed us a vastly different side of herself.
It all started completely normal with my usual breakfast and then singing in front of the mirror while brushing my teeth. Afterwards, I stuffed my backpack with everything I needed that day and happily walked out of my room, only to go back to take my beloved necklace with me.
After greeting a few other moody students who trotted through the hallway, I strolled towards our classroom. I didn’t know why the first classes were replaced with homeroom that day, but it was usually a rather relaxing time. If it wasn’t for Ellie. She was quite the lovely girl, but the way she tried to drive Lucy and Louis apart was going on everyone’s nerves.
Lucy wasn’t even interested in Louis … at least that’s what she told me, but Ellie was dead set on picking a fight with her whenever she could. And in the middle of everything was Louis who was pitied by everyone else.
He still had a massive crush on Lucy who never denied his approaches outright probably because she feared it would hurt him, but also never welcomed his attempts. She always kept him at a certain distance, way shorter than the other boys who also had a crush on her, but further away than me or Sofie. I seriously didn’t want to be in his shoes.
But that day, as I stepped into the room, these two weren’t talking. Something seemed to stress Lucy which never happened before. She was quite tense and only smiled a little bit as we made eye contact.
Thus, I couldn’t help but to walk over towards her and look at her a bit confused. Her hands seemed to grab her knees hard and she kept nibbling on her lower lip.
“Is everything alright?” I was really worried about her. She usually was completely calm and weathered off every storm there was.
“Me? Yeah, totally.” She didn’t look like it. One glance to Louis showed me he didn’t know what was up with her either, so it was my task to find out what was wrong. Maybe it had something to do with her work as the saint?
“Okay … are you nervous?” I asked innocently, hoping to hear an awesome story about what she did after school. She was really evasive about that topic, but I knew she worked really hard on something.
“No? Not at all … did you know there is a school trip planned?” She asked and looked at me with wide open eyes.
“Oh, really?” I asked happily. We could spent so much time together in a place we were both unfamiliar with.
“Yes. There are three different destinations. One for each year … there is the elven forest, the frosty mountains of the south or a large inland lake in the east.” Two of them sounded like great destinations, but I seriously didn’t know why the mountains were even on that list.
“A lake? With a beach?” That one was by far my most favourite pick. I always wanted to go to an ocean, but sadly they weren’t that nice of a place anymore. Even seafaring was out of the question since a long time ago thanks to the demons living in the deep waters.
“It’s apparently a tourist destination …” Lucy muttered and looked behind me towards the door as her sister stepped into the room.
“I love the beach! I really hope we go there.” I heard one couldn’t see the ground in these lakes. And honestly, lakes always made for a great scenery.
“And. So do … I.” She muttered, just as Miss Dove cleared her throat, signalling everyone of us to sit down on our chairs.
“Where are we going?” A girl in the front row asked eagerly for everyone in the room.
“You know the fact that we have a trip shouldn’t be public yet? Kids these days …” Miss Dove commented dryly and looked at Lucy with a little worry in her eyes. That much was apparently enough to push Lucy over the edge as her eyes got wider and wider. “It’s the lake.” Some of my classmates threw their hands in the air and started chatting with their neighbours right away.
Even I was happy about our destination but Lucy … she looked shocked to say the least. I could see her muttering something quietly and even Louis who poked her shoulder couldn’t drag her out of that state. At least, until she closed her eyes a little and then opened them once more. The usual friendly smile reappeared on her face right away and she started to talk to a perplexed Louis happily. It was as if everything I saw never happened in the first place.
“Now … what’s next …” Miss Dove mumbled, unhappy that the class had turned into a mess. “Oh, right!” Sometimes I still had the feeling she hand no idea what to do in her role as a teacher, even though it got way better since the very beginning. “Rooms are for two. Make sure you stay with someone you get along …”
Another wave of noice filled the room as the others scrambled to their friends and made arrangements.
“Hey, Luna … you’ll be asking Lucy, right?” I was certain my neighbour wanted to share a room with me, but she was right. I wanted to share a room with Lucy, that was for sure. “I’m sorry.” Luckily she didn’t mind it much and gave me a thumbs up as I stood up.
“Hey, Luc-“ I started once I was at her desk, but stopped as soon as she looked into my eyes with this piercing, but friendly gaze and took my hands.
“Yes! Yes! Yes and yes!” Sometimes words were unnecessary and it wasn’t that hard for her to guess what I wanted.
Like this, we came to share a room on our first adventure together. One of many that followed afterwards …
“Alright! You all keep on doing … stuff. And I’m going to bed now.” Hannah said loudly and turned away to leave the room, but stopped once she was halfway through the room. “Before I forget it … I was supposed to plan this trip in advance, but I’m kind of busy right now and I’m really not in the mood, so you guys can do that. As long as it is beneficial as a team building exercise, I don’t care what you do … see you next week.” And with that, she left us alone like no teacher should do.
“I’m for a cheerleading contest!” One of the older boys proposed right away. Several of the girls immediately objected, including me while Lucy just placed her forehead onto the table.
“We definitely need a shopping day.” One of the girls proposed, which earned her a lot of groaning from the boys. For several minutes it went on like this, until Lucy stood up from her seat, passed by me and strolled to the chalkboard. Not many noticed her right away, but as she dragged a few fingernails across the chalkboard, she had all the attention she needed.
“Okay … here is the thing. My sis sometimes says one thing, but actually means something else entirely. She told us she didn’t care, but she also cannot let this trip go to waste. We will go with all of these other first years, so other teachers will watch her as well. She wants us to have fun, but we also need to make sure whatever we do doesn’t look bad for her. So … no cheerleading contests, no shopping sprees, and no fooling around. We have two weeks there … let’s make sure to make the most of it for everyone. What are your ideas?” If we had to vote for a class representative, it would surely be her. Quite amazed by the way she handled the situation, I sat down on her chair and lifted my arm.
“We could make a tour through the city once. It’s a perfect pick for the first day, even though it’s not exactly interesting, but it gives us an overview of where what is … except for you … I guess.” Nearly the whole class laughed as everyone knew about her struggles to arrive on time thanks to losing her way constantly. A bit defeated, she turned around and wrote my proposal down onto the blackboard.
“I was there with my family once before. There is a crazy hiking trail which lets you see the whole area …” Proposal after proposal was collected by her even though she was visibly uncomfortable with a few of them. Others were directly shot down by her, mostly because they weren’t very feasible or downright mean to some of our classmates.
As the bell rang, we already had enough proposals and had voted on each and every one of them. Lucy took it upon herself to note everything down and hand it over to Miss Dove later.
And with that, we were basically set to start our first adventure as a class.
Afterwards, our day progressed as usual. First was my history lesson with Lucy, then we had lunch in the cafeteria with a few more friends and two more lessons afterwards.
I was quite absentminded during these lessons though, and couldn’t help but to think about Lucy’s reaction to being told we were heading towards the lake.
She never was anything but friendly to anyone around her, and while I knew friendliness wasn’t her whole personality, but reacting this weirdly was … odd for her.
Out of concern, I thus found myself right at the doorstep to the teachers’ dorms and knocked against the door a few times. The biology teacher opened the door and after explaining I wanted to see Lucy, he promised he would knock on her door.
Luckily Lucy was around and greeted me with a smile on her lips.
“Hey … I … how should I put this?” I stumbled over my words, not really knowing how I should express my worries. As far as I was aware, she was more than capable of dealing with her issues on her own, so it was kind of hard for me to offer my help.
“You want to marry me?” She asked and chuckled while holding her hand in front of her mouth.
“By the gods! Lucy!” She also knew how to break the ice and made her the easiest to talk to by far.
“Oh that’s not it?” She asked and rubbed her eyes while sniffling theatrically.
“So anything wrong with going to the lake? Is it dangerous there?“ She looked at me a bit stunned, but soon stepped out of the doorframe laughing loudly.
“Shall we go a bit?” After getting away from the building, she exhaled loudly and smiled awkwardly. “You know, it’s not like the lake is bad in any way. But I had hoped to visit the elven forest. I do have a history with the elves after all and I really wanted to see their home once.” She explained and shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s it?” I asked stupefied. Her reaction was a bit over the top for this reason if I was honest.
“Hmm … have you heard that the elven king died a few years ago? I think there is more to his death than we know. With his abilities, the elves and humans alike wouldn’t need to concede territory to the demons at all…” She said quietly and looked around to see if there was anyone around who might overhear us.
“You think he was murdered by demons?” I asked in shock.
“No. I’m thinking of something more …” She pointed towards the sky for a few seconds and then turned her back to me. “Don’t tell anyone, alright?”
With that, everything became clear to me. She had hoped to get to the elven forest because she wanted to investigate for the benefit of us all. It warmed my heart to know how deeply she cared about our survival and it also explained why she wasn’t so keen on going to the lake.
That day, I thought she let me in on one of her biggest secrets … how wrong I was.
