"You know, you've been having this internal soliloquy for the past ten minutes and it's seriously beginning to freak me out. What's got you all broody and..." her voice trailed off and then she drew in a sharp breath, causing me to look up. "Claire!" She clasped her hands over her chest as if she were witnessing a gross beheading scene. "You sneaky adolescent!"

        Peggy had made two very unnecessary exclamations in under a second and I still had no idea what she was talking about.

        She folded her arms with her mouth twitched into a naughty smile. "You're finally planning on making a move tonight aren't you? On Roman? That's why you've been so moody right? Aw Claire, are you scared that he won't like you?"

        I rolled my eyes so hard that I could almost see the insides of my head.

        "You can roll your eyes all you want Claire, but the truth remains only one," she said stubbornly and pranced over to her wardrobe.

        "Do you believe in magic?" I asked.

        "No, but I believe in love. And you love Roman." She took out a dress and flung it in my direction. "Put that on."

        I held out the pale purple sequin dress and examined it. "I'm not wearing this." I winced and let it drop from my hand.

        Surprisingly, she didn't argue and I felt slightly disappointed. Not because I'd wanted to wear the dress, but because I'd just gotten so habituated to her brash and cocky personality that I couldn't figure out how to handle her reaction.

       "Okay, how about this one?" She threw another dress. I caught it in the air and inspected it. "You like?"

        It was flowery and pretty, but because I didn't want to admit that I liked it, I cast my eyes to the ceiling and made a show of taking it into consideration. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I shrugged.

         She raised an eyebrow and gave me a look .

         Bullshit was coming.

        "Are you kidding me? That ugly shirt looks like someone died in it."

        There it was.

        "Hey Soul Sister!" Emily burst into the room, shimmying and screaming the lyrics on top of her lungs. "Ain't that Mister Mister,"

        "On the radio, stereo!" Peggy joined in. "The way you move ain't fair you know,"

         I couldn't quite comprehend how Emily had managed to brush off the strangeness of the afternoon just like that. As we'd walked to the dorm, she'd linked everything to a possible Wattpad glitch. Though a plausible explanation, I still wasn't feeling all that okay.  But maybe I was the one just over-thinking things.

        Someone knocked. Peggy and Emily stopped singing.

        "Come in, the door is open."

        The door cracked open and Chelsie's head popped in.

        Seeing her, my heart sank faster than my grades back in Second Form after I'd seriously fallen sick and not been able to write my exams. She was so grippingly beautiful, refined and had that sweet 'girl next door' thing to her. It was also about her eyes, the way they glistened when she smiled.

        "Hey Claire, hey Peggy, Emily." She smiled. "The bus is about to take off for Saint Patrick. Please hurry up and meet Matron downstairs for inspection."

        "Okay." Emily nodded.

        "Thanks." She pulled her head out and shut the door.

        "God, she's so beautiful." Emily gushed. Peggy glanced at me pitifully.

        I had always known that I stood no chance with Roman, but seeing Chelsie that evening strangely, somehow spelled out that fact in capital letters. I had brains, but Chelsie had both beauty and brains. Chelsie was a perfect match for Roman, I wasn't.

***

        Matron had successfully managed to miscommunicate information as critical as that to us and we were all in shock.

        The scholarship boys in Saint Patrick weren't hosting any party, but a talk. A talk on Adolescent Reproductive Health.

        How Matron had effortlessly turned the entire thing upside down was amusing to me, but Peggy didn't seem to find it hilarious in the very least. She shot a dagger at Matron and that caused Emily to erupt into fits of laughter.

        "I can't believe this!" Peggy stomped her foot. "I had plans Claire, plans to land a hot guy by the close of the party. Plans to...Jesus Christ!"

        Emily's laughter gained momentum.

        "I swear if I get a heart attack any moment from now, Matron will be responsible for it," Peggy said in all seriousness before chuckling at her own statement. "A talk on Adolescent Reproductive Health! Can you imagine? Why would Matron do this to us? What crime have we committed against her? For crying out loud, were we the ones who killed Jesus?"

        "Girls! Girls!" Matron clapped.

        "Girls, girls," Peggy mimicked Matron under her breath.

        Emily couldn't control her laughter so I had to cup my palm over her mouth to calm her down.

        "We're going inside the auditorium now, I want you all to be on your best of behaviour is that clear?"

        "Yes Matron," we chorused.

        "Good. Let's walk." Matron and Mrs. Du Bois, our french teacher, led the way. Chelsie followed closely behind.

        "God please, take my life," Peggy said, holding out her hands to the skies.

        "Peggy Donihugh, stop fooling about!" Matron said without turning to look back. How she had been able to see behind her, I had no idea.

        "This old woman is a witch. I swear to God," Peggy whispered into my ear.

        I laughed and elbowed her away.

        The lights in the auditorium were dim when we entered, but I could see a short bald man in front of a big projector on the stage. There were three other men and a lady seated at the high table on the left side of the stage and then there was Roman. His side was to us and his face to the man in front of the projector.

        Roman wasn't on a scholarship, I knew. He'd told me in a letter once that his Father owned a pineapple farm and his mother was an Estate Developer. He'd probably stayed back in school with the other scholarship guys because of Chelsie.

        As cliché as it may have seemed, my heart did do an outright somersault when I saw him.

        We quietly filed into the seats reserved for us at the left side of the auditorium. Emily spotted Dick, her pen pal and gave him a quick wave. He mouthed a 'how're you' to her and she gave him a thumps up in response.

        Matron, Mrs. Du Bois and Chelsie were ushered upstage to the High table. And when Chelsie went to sit beside Roman, I almost wept out of jealousy.

***

        The talk was boring and uninteresting and I slept throughout the entire presentation. Seeing Chelsie and Roman together was heartbreaking but the Presenter's dull voice was dreadfully tormenting.

        "I officially crown today as the worst day of my life," Peggy said as soon as the Presenter said his last word.

        I had to agree with her. It wasn't the worst, but it could count as one.

        The applause the presenter received when he ended was scattered and not so enthusiastic. Everyone looked like they had just come out of a particularly miserable Social Studies lecture and I almost felt bad for him.

        Emily left to speak to Dick and Peggy and I went over to one of the cocktail stands at the back of the auditorium.

        "Hello Ladies," a dark haired guy behind the stand greeted, his smile directed at Peggy.

        "Hello.Hello," Peggy's flirty voice intertwined with her fake Scottish accent instantly switched on. I didn't know exactly what it was about that accent she found so sexy and attractive. She claimed her mother was from a Royal family in Scotland, but I didn't believe her.

        "My name is Edward, and you are?"

        "Single and ever ready to mingle," Peggy replied and laughed an uncharacteristically theatrical and fake laugh.

        I harrumphed, shooting her a look of disbelief but she plainly ignored me.

        "Well Miss Single, what would you like to have today?" He flirted back, his smile growing wider and goofier and causing me to cringe.

        "You, if you may." She thrust her purse into my hand.

        I cringed harder.

        "Well, well." Edward came around from behind the table and took her hand. "I must say, you have an impeccable taste in cocktails Miss Single," he said and walked away with her, just like that.

        She turned her head once and flashed me a cheesy, apologetic smile. "I love you," she mouthed and blew me an air kiss.

        I wasn't surprised, or even angered. That wasn't the first time Peggy had traded me for some random guy at an event and that was most certainly not going to be the last.

        Abandoned and alone, I fixed myself a drink. "Well cheers to me, myself and I." I raised the glass in salute.

        I made myself another drink, walked over to one of the auditorium chairs and started eavesdropping on the conversation Oprah, our chapel prefect, was having with one of the Saint Patrick guys.

***

        Back in the bus, the rains had started again and almost everyone had fallen asleep. People had chattered and flirted all their energy away and the weather had gone ice cold. Even with all the windows shut tight, my body was freezing over. I could tell Emily was too. Peggy's head was on my laps and she was dead to the world.

        "Ah, Crowley Heights' weather sometimes makes me regret ever coming to Saint Margaret you know," Emily said between chattering teeth. "But I just love this town so damn much. It's like a whole world on its own," she added.

        "So you prefer this place to Manhattan?" I asked.

        "Yeah, kinda...maybe...I don't really know. But the air over here is fresh, the food is fresh, everything is fresh." She giggled. "How about you? Which do you like more? Crowley Heights or Columbus?"

        "Crowley Heights." I didn't blink twice. "I'm thinking of even settling here once I graduate from College."

        "Really?"

        I nodded and said, after a time, "Yeah. Cowley Heights is like my second home."

        "Wow. I'm not so sure which College I even wanna attend. To talk of where I wanna settle after that."

        "I thought you wanted to go to Brown?" I asked.

        "Yeah, but I'm not sure they'll accept me. I'm not as smart as you are Claire."

        "Don't say that," I nudged her. "You're smart." I shut my eyes and inhaled, the crisp evergreen air filling my lungs.

        "That's easy for you to say...because you're intelligent and...whoa..can you see that Claire?"

        "See what?" I opened my eyes.

        "Look through the window, it seems there's a blackout or something."

        I looked out the window and saw it.

        Our entire school was concealed in darkness.

A/N

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