CHAPTER TWO ━━ girls in the courtyard

It is said that every action has its equal and opposite reaction. Action; Todd Anderson's elder brother being born a bright and beaming baby boy, growing to be a man of pure magnetism and sunlight. Reaction; Todd Anderson's existence.

He was a boy of rosy cheeks and little words and the ability to turn the most inconsequential of occurrences into something deserving of stomach-churning anxiety. Although, maybe, he thought as his new roommate bounded to his side, he wasn't the reaction to his brother, but instead the action to Neil Perry.

Now that was a boy of daisy-fresh summers and bottomless pocketfuls of sunshine. Todd had known him for not even ten minutes, but he knew it well. It was obvious from the skip in his step and the seemingly never ending amount of fellow students who stopped him to say 'hi' on their way to the dorms that Neil Perry was no ordinary thing.

   So caught in a daze of both marvel and insecurity, Todd hadn't noticed Neil begin to speak until he felt someone barrel into his shoulder and the boy was suddenly asking if he was okay. Looking behind them, the pair saw a short, round silhouette walking from the stairwell of the staff quarters with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"He's running for mayor this year." Neil mused. "Won't get far with an attitude like that."

He simply nodded, all words caught in his throat. If Neil judged him for it, he at least had the decency to do it internally. They walked in silence, their shoes making a synchronised clip-clop across the hollow halls. Todd like this kind of quiet, time to breath, time to think.

Todd, despite belief that his silence equated to stupidity, had a great many thoughts. He thought that the dock on the far side of grounds would make a good space to sit and read. He thought that tomatoes were overrated. He thought that he should've worn his shoes at least once before today—he could feel blisters forming on his heels already.

   And then he thought about the two girls attending this year, and was grateful he wouldn't be the only out-of-place addition to the rowdy Welton student body. He'd heard about Katie before, her name a brief whisper as the daughter of a family friend's friend, her brothers used to play football with his, and if she was half as aggressive as them, he thought it would be in his best interest to stay out of her way.

   The other girl, whose name he was afraid to admit he hadn't heard over the ringing in his ears when she smiled at him, was new. He thought about what could've happened to make him the one that her eyes locked onto. Was there something wrong with his hair? Was there something hanging from his nose? In his hurry to make it out of the house, did he forget to wipe the toothpaste from his mouth? He pressed his tongue to the corner of his lips and the lack of spearmint let him know that was not the case.

A sharp breeze passed through him and sent a chill down his spine. His shoulders tensed enough to remind him he needed to find a way to get his blazer tailored because, to add to his ever-growing list of inadequacies, Todd had learned just how much leaner he was compared to his brother and the hand-me-downs that Jeffrey once squeezed into made Todd look like a needle in a haystack.

   As they walked, Todd was separated from Neil and wrapped into a swarm of students, mostly seventh graders, mostly wiping tears away from red and puffy eyes. Todd pushed his way through them, only to be welcomed into another sea of his peers. He didn't fit in and he knew it. They all walked tall, chins up and voices loud. They were unapologetically youthful and Todd hated them for it.

   His envy curled around his spine as a young boy bursting out crying at a school recital while the other boys read with ease. It grew just as he did, twisting its way through him and burrowing itself into the innermost parts of his being. He believed himself to be a kind boy, one who lived without judgement, for he knew he was in no place to judge, but he knew he was a hound of jealously.

   It was as obvious as the hue of the sky that he would never be one of those boys, the ones who command silence and respect with a single look. Instead, Todd was convinced that if he walked into a half-empty room, it would still take people an hour to notice him there, a living ghost, a shadow of the world.

   By the time he reached his dorm, a redheaded boy was leaning against the doorframe. "Study club tonight?" He could hear Neil respond a hesitant "yeah, sure" before the other boy continued on. "Heard you got the new boy, huh? Sounds like a stiff!" As Todd shuffled past him, ear red and bile rising, he flashed a grimace to Neil, muttering a quick "oops", and walking away.

   "Hey, ignore Cameron." Neil consoled. "He was born with his foot in his mouth, if you know what I mean."

   Todd did what he thought to be a nod, but came across as a stiff jerk of his head. Their dorm wasn't much, but it was enough. Neil had comfortably placed his things around the right side of the room the right bed and all but flung his case down upon the wooden stand at the foot of it. Todd was much more precarious with his actions, laying his belongings on the bed with such care you'd think there was something living inside.

   He took nervous steps towards the coat hanger by the door, as if the floorboards were going to fold back and reveal rows and rows of teeth fit to swallow him whole. He busied himself with folding away his clothes, keeping his head down when he heard a knock at the door.

   "I heard you went to summer school." A taunting voice rang out. From the corner of his eye, Todd saw a trio enter the room.

   The tallest of the bunch was the second to enter, with a hooked nose and sunken eyes, there was a lazy confidence in the way he sauntered over to take purchase on the trunk at the end of Neil's bed.

   There is always quiet before the storm, and if the tall boy's character was supposed to be subtle, then the guy who spoke was a circus. He stood shorter than Neil, only by an inch or so, Todd noticed as he walked up to light-heartedly hit his arm before throwing himself down on the bed. His lips were settled in a seemingly natural smirk. He pulled his tie askew with an eagerness that led Todd to believe that feigning propriety, even for an hour, had almost killed him.

   "Meeks, door, closed." He instructed the last of the three with a commanding ease that Todd could see himself admiring.

   The other boy, Meeks, nodded a cheeky "yes, sir" and gave Todd a smile. His ginger hair was fairer than the boy before, and rested in neat curls at the top of his head. His round, wire frame glasses sat crooked on his nose, and his tongue poked against his cheek as he took a seat closest to Todd, on the trunk at the foot of his bed. He pulled his left ankle to rest on his right knee, relaxing against the wall behind him.

   "Yeah," Neil responded, "chemistry. My father thought I should get ahead."

   "Well, Meeks aced Latin and didn't totally flunk English so if you want, we've got our study group." The first boy pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket as he spoke, tapping down his jacket in search of a lighter.

   "Sure, but Cameron asked me too. Anybody mind including him?" Todd wondered if any of them would noticed if he melted into a puddle on the floor then and there.

   "What's his specialty, boot-licking?" The taller boy tossed him a lighter, he nodded in thanks and silently offered a smoke to the others. None of them took it.

   "Hey, he's your roommate." Neil grinned boyishly, all teeth and dimples.

   "That's not my fault." He defended with his cigarette hanging loosely between his lips, free hand cupped around the lighter to guide the flame.

   Just as Todd was starting to wonder if he was visible at all, Meeks nudged his elbow gently. "I don't think we've met. I'm Steven Meeks." He held his hand out to shake and Todd took it in his own. He hoped he didn't feel the sweat of his palm and was grateful when Steven didn't mention it.

   "Todd. Anderson."

   The other two moved from their places to extend their hands as well. The tallest boy introduced himself as Knox Overstreet, and the other as Charlie Dalton.

   Sensing that Todd wouldn't reveal much more about himself, Neil swooped in from where he stood leaning against the windowsill. "Todd's brother is Jeffrey Anderson."

   Charlie hummed. "Oh, yeah. Valedictorian, National Merit Scholar." He let out a low whistle. "Big shoes to fill, Toddy." Knox hit his foot and sent him a sharp look just as Neil leaned down to clip his ear. Charlie glared at them both indignantly.

   "Welcome to Hellton." Steven said with a gentle kindness Todd wasn't expecting.

   "It's every bit as hard as they say, unless you're a genius like Meeks." Charlie winked, relaxed across the bed once more.

   "He flatters me so I'll help him with Latin."

   "And English, and trig, and-" Meeks smiles at him, but a knock at the door makes them all jump.

   Charlie hurried to snuff out the cigarette and bat the smoke away. "It's open!" Neil called out once he was sure everything was okay.

   A man with the same jawline as Neil but much meaner eyes walked in. Neil stiffened and his lips parted in unveiled shock. The other boys hurried to stand, overlapping greetings of "Hello, Mr. Perry." filled he room.

   "Neil," the man began, his voice rough and callous, "I've decided you're taking on too many extra curriculars this year. I've spoken to Mr. Nolan about it and you can do school annual next year."

   "But, father, I'm assistant editor this year."

   "I'm sorry, Neil."

   "But, father, it's not fair." Mr. Perry's face hardened even more than before.

   "Fellows, would you excuse us for a moment?" He asked, waiting for no response before turning on his heel and leaving Neil to follow him wordlessly to the hallway.

   A heavy quiet hung in the dorm, every boy there painstakingly aware of the conversation happening on the other side of that sickeningly yellow wall, every boy there painstakingly familiar with its outcome.

   "I didn't see Pittsie in the welcome march, Meeks. What's the deal?" Charlie broke the silence as though nothing had happened.

   "His great-aunt's funeral was yesterday in Portland so he's arriving late. He said he'd be here by tonight."

   "Shit." Knox blew out a long sigh. "Gladice's cookies were the best."

   "You're only saying that because you nearly got set up with that old lady beneficiary the last time she visited, Knoxious. She was all over you." Charlie laughed to himself, snorting when Knox leaned over to thump him in the stomach.

   Charlie rose from his position and stalked over to Knox, rearing his hand back to retaliate, but before he could, the door opened again and Neil walked in with his feet dragging beneath him and a noticeable gloom around him. Nobody said anything as he took his school annual pin off of his jacket and threw it on his desk with abandon.

   He assumed Charlie's old place on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Charlie stood by the window, about to light another smoke, when something caught his eye.

   "Girls! Girls in the courtyard!" Charlie yelled, staring out the window and slapping Neil's arm. Todd jumped in alarm and Meeks smiled at him.

   "Charlie boy here skipped the evolutionary stage of learning to form actual sentences." Charlie's eyes stayed glued to the window, but he raised his hand from behind his back to stick his middle finger up at Meeks.

   "It's moving day, of course there's girls here." Knox rolled his eyes.

   "No! It's the student girls." That was enough to get movement back into the room, with Knox and Meeks clambering around, pushing and shoving at each other to try get a glimpse out of the small frosted window, a grin fighting its way to Neil's lips as he stood to join them.

   He looked over his shoulder at Todd, who was the only one who hadn't left his place at the edge of the bed, and smiled in a soft, welcoming manner.

   "Forgive them," he began quietly, moving to stand beside Todd, "they don't get out much."

   "I say we go talk to them." Charlie beamed.

   "No way!" Meeks insisted.

   "Why not?" The Dalton boy pouted childishly, looking like he was fit to beg Meeks to follow through.

   Meeks pretended to think about it. "Maybe because they're probably terrified being here already and having you try in their pants isn't exactly a five-star welcome party."

   "Or they're feeling lost and overwhelmed and a friendly face and shoulder to lean on is exactly what they need!"

   "You'll have a restraining order by the time term is out, Charlie." Meeks chastised half-heartedly.

   "Or I'll have a wife, Meeksie. You've got to see the bigger picture here!" Charlie stopped before he could explain his idea, looking out of the window again, only to see the two girls vanished from sight. "See that, Meeks! You've ruined phase one. Now I have to completely redo the plan!"

   "Oh yeah, I'm sure your whole minute of preparation was really something." Meeks rolled his eyes with a smile. "I should probably head back to my dorm, make sure everything's in order for tomorrow." Knox nodded in agreement.

   "I suppose I should make sure Cameron didn't stink our place up too much." Charlie sighed. "You guys want to come by my room at eight? I could use a refresher in Latin."

   The boys mumbled various okays. Todd pulled at his fingers. "You're more than welcome to come too, Todd." Charlie added.

   The fair-haired boy looked up at them in shocked alarm, cheeks warming and tongue desert-dry. "Thanks." He managed to push out, though he wondered if they heard him, his voice barely above a whisper.

With the trio gone, Neil lay in silence. He picked the pin up from when it had been thrown and twirled it between his fingers. Todd continued to unpack, taking out a leather desk set fully equipped with ink pens and blotters and tossing it into his drawer with little to no care.

He could feel Neil's eyes on the back of his head. "What did you think of my father?" He asked.

"I'd take him over mine." Todd responded quietly.

"Hm?" Neil questioned with furrowed brows.

"Nothing."

Neil sighed. "Todd, if you're gonna make it around here, you need to speak up. The meek may inherit the earth, but they don't get into Harvard. Know what I mean?" Todd nodded but the other boy didn't see, his lips curling to a frown as his thumb traced along the gold embellishments of the pin he'd have to turn in tomorrow.

He pressed the pin's point against the pad of his thumb, the skin turning paper-white before finally breaking. A bead of blood pearled out. Todd winced. Neil didn't. He threw the pin against the wall.

      Amélie Blanc had the privilege of seeing a great many impressive things in her seventeen years of living. She had seen her father smile, and her mother laugh like a girl, and a shooting star pass over her bedroom window, but she liked to think that even if she'd been born blind to wonder, she'd still find the Welton Academy dining hall as lacklustre as she did now.

   Given the reputation and finances the school flaunted so proudly, Amélie was expecting beautiful arching architecture and aged artworks displayed with the care they deserved. She expected something like Paris. Instead, she got the same ugly yellow walls she saw everywhere else, portraits of graduated classes and former staff, and rows upon rows of wooden benches that Amélie was certain would splinter and snag her tights.

And then there was the noise, the hundreds upon hundreds of hungry teen and pre-teen boys shouting ill-humoured jokes around mouthfuls of chicken. The gravy smeared on the corners of their lips was almost enough to chase away her appetite forever.

It seemed her distaste wasn't special, because she could see Katie wrinkle her nose at the slurping of juice from the table beside her. They trailed behind Miss Waters like two lost ducklings, steps in sync and hands clasped before them. She had invited the two of them to sit with her for meals, until they felt confident enough to sit on their own or were brave enough to sit with the boys.

With all the arrogant independence of a teenage girl, Katie and Amélie almost turned her down, knowing full well that they already stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the student body, and eating with a teacher would only worsen that image. But they weren't adults yet, and still clung to the childhood craving to be held by their mothers. They accepted her offer eagerly.

The nauseating revelation that she'd have to grow accustomed to countless eyes trained upon her every move dawned on Katie in that moment. Amélie's strides were slightly more confident than her own, as if she was already used to the staring, and Katie found herself almost out of breath keeping up with her pace. Amélie kept her head up and her chest rising and falling in deep and steady breaths. Katie cracked her knuckles and did the same.

   Their food had just been set down when they took their seats and the very end of the staff table. Amélie sat with her back to the wall, looking out at the other students, perched at the right hand of Miss Waters. Katie sat opposite her, one hand resting in her lap while the other poked and pushed her food around her plate. Carrots had never been so unappealing.

   "Is it weird being the only female teacher?" Amélie asked after a few minutes of quiet eating.

   Miss Waters hummed in contemplation. "It was in the beginning. I got a lot of odd looks from the younger years, and the other staff weren't exactly welcoming, but it's what I'm passionate about, so it never really bothered me. I do sometimes wish there was at least one other woman working here, though. It feels a bit lonely sometimes."

   Katie was so focused on heeding her every word that she didn't notice the brief look Amélie sent her way.

In Katie's opinion, Miss Waters, who, amidst her stories, had told them to call her Sarah outside of classes, was someone who could turn the world around with a smile. In all definitions, she was warm. She mentioned briefly how she didn't mind living on-site because she had to interest in starting a family, but Katie knew she'd be a good mother.

The girls had known her not even a day but would set fire to the school if she asked. Maybe her hair was dark enough for Amélie to see Charlotte in her, maybe her eyes were light enough for Katie to see fragments of her own mother.

All her life she'd been told she was her mother's daughter. She was all soft shapes and lines, from the curve of her cheeks to the plush of her lips, her face had never truly been hers.

Molly Harrison had always wanted to be an academic. She stole her uncle's chess books when she was a young girl and found more entertainment and solace in those than any fairytale could offer. On a fourth glass of wine, she'd joke about how she could've been a Grand Champion if it hadn't been the 20s, and she'd laugh for about a minute until it felt forced and trailed off to slow, awkward breaths.

Her mother and her mother's mother before had been seamstresses, so the eye of a needle seemed a much more reasonable hoop to jump through, and the family business carried on in her name.

   In 1925, she met Alexander Wells in the most romantic setting at the time—a jazz bar in Soho, Manhattan. She was working on costuming for A Midsummer Night's Dream on Broadway, he had just flown in from a business deal in Prague. She sang along to Got No Blues by Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five, he bought her a French 75. Two months later they married in Vegas, two months after that they welcomed their first baby boy into the world.

   Molly lived vicariously through Alexander, whispering over his shoulder when he read over paperwork in the middle of the night. Behind every great man is an even greater woman, and Molly Wells made sure her husband was the best.

   When her first son grew to wield more brawn than brains, she saw it as human error, when her second son turned out the same, she worried there was something bad in the water, but when her third son carried on the new family legacy, she feared it was something bad in her.

   And then Katie was born, and her beautiful girl carried all the wits her siblings didn't. It was clear that Molly held her daughter dearer than her sons, it was clear Alexander felt the same.

   Katie would be the first to admit her parents shouldn't have had kids. They weren't bad, per se. They didn't hit them, they didn't starve them. In all physical senses, no harm was ever brought to the Wells children.

   But then you pull up a chair at the dinner table and you see it live and in action. You hear the onslaught of questioning; Did you study? Did you get an A? You need to work harder. You need to do better. Our perfect girl. Stay that way. And you see the freeze-out; Darren, don't speak while you eat. Michael, your sister needs another trophy case, be a dear and make one. Allen, go get some more water.

   There was a hierarchy in the house that they had to learn early on. Molly, then Alexander, then Katie, then the boys. If you didn't perform, you didn't exist.

   The strength to dislike her mother escaped Katie. She was too understanding of her predicament, because for years, it was hers too. Katie was a prodigy, she should've had a seat at the top institutes in the world. But she didn't. Because they couldn't afford to travel and she wasn't a boy.

   Just as Burlington Public School's Chess Club shut their doors to Molly, Welton Academy shut its doors to Katie. Molly craved the success she deserved, but if she couldn't have it, she'd settle for the credit for the success of her children.

Katie had always strived for excellence, so she'd always been coddled by their mother. She got the bedtime stories and the lullabies sung whilst braiding her hair. She got the cookies and she got the care, but she knew that being good to her didn't make Molly a good mother.

   When she read the article and learned exactly who Amélie Blanc was, Molly shrieked and threw the newspaper against the wall. She explained it all to Katie then. How Charlotte paved her way into Maison d'éducation de Saint-Denis and Clement paid her way into Welton. She told her that it was an insult to her to be welcomed in the same year as a girl like Amélie Blanc, whose greatest achievement was her birthright.

"We have always been told we are undeserving of our seats at the table—their table, Katie, but it's her who doesn't deserve it. It's that whole family. They don't understand what it is to work. They just buy their solutions." She seethed that night, face red and teeth stained.

It was hard to see Amélie as that anti-Christ now, giggling girlishly at something Miss Waters had said, blushing madly when her laughter turned to a snort. She simply seemed... human.

But then Katie saw the ring on her right index finger, a Pierre Sterlé design that no teenage girl should be able to have, and her jealously crawled back up her throat once more.

   "Are you scared?" Amélie asked when they were back at their dorm.

   "What do you mean?"

   "For tomorrow. Are you scared?" Her voice was unfocused, her effort trained on straightening the poster above her bed.

   "No." Katie responded as she organised the books on her desk, taking her copy of Little Women and tucking it beneath her pillow.

"Oh." The room went silent. "I am." Katie looked away from her books to see Amélie now sat on the edge of the bed.

   She looked different now. She'd exchanged her uniform for a red pinstripe pyjama set. She was pulling at the thread of the last shirt button. Her bare feet didn't quite reach the floor, kicking leisurely in the air. She refused to look at Katie.

   "You don't seem the type to be afraid."

   "I would say neither do you, but you were shaking like a leaf this morning." Amélie paused. "Bad joke. Sorry."

   "I'm nervous, but I'm not afraid. I've been in a few situations like this."

   "Oh." Amélie cleared her throat and finally looked up at Katie, offering her a smile. "Well, I was gonna say that I think we should both be scared together. But I guess you've got that covered." The blonde felt a pang of guilt in her heart. "I know we started on a bad note, and I know we're not gonna be best friends, and I know you don't really like me, and I don't know you well enough to really like you either, but I'd rather be around you than a guy, so I think we should sit together in classes. At least for tomorrow." 

   "I'd rather sit with you than a guy too." It felt as though Katie were looking at a small dog with the way Amélie failed to hide the pride in her grin.

   "Okay. Cool." She said through a yawn, stretching her arms above her head. "I think I'm gonna turn in." Amélie took careful steps towards the main light switch, giving Katie time to turn on the lamp at her desk before the room went dark.

The bed frame creaked as she crawled under the covers and the mattress had a lump that Amélie knew would give her back pain, but the pillow was fluffy and the duvet was soft, so she faced the wall and curled up on her side.

She could hear Katie reading a book, mumbling the lines under her breath. It reminded her of when she was a girl, before her mother got sick, when Charlotte used to play with her hair and read The Little Prince before kissing her on the nose and wishing her sweet dreams. "G'night, Katie." She mumbled half into her pillow.

Katie smiled, maybe because she knew Amélie couldn't see, or maybe because she couldn't help it. But as Laurie offered Jo and Meg a carriage ride home, she found her spirits high enough to indulge in niceties.

"Goodnight. Amélie."

               ( author's note. . . )
i kind of hate the first half of this but i needed to build relationships because i will be taking some creative liberties (not a lot!!!)