Eves abused lungs revolt as she covers her mouth and coughs hard, her eyes are watering and theres a burning in her body from the humiliation oh, god, my drink went down the wrong way. Pretending that hunter and all her new classmates arent staring at her she moves towards the bathroom, eves only takes a few steps when all of a sudden Hunter is right beside her but he doesn't acknowledge eve he doesn't even look at her as he passes but his shoulder brushes hers as he walks past. Just as quickly as the chocking fit started it disappears Eve is finally able to fill her lungs with fresh air Eve watches hunter walk away but he doesn't turn to look back, picking one large perfect strawberry from a bowl he walks to the centre of the room and sits down on a huge velvet chair. Nearly everyone in the room is watching hunter, trying to catch his eye eventully he lifts his head and his gaze is straight onto eve when he then puts the strawberry to his lips and bites it clean in half, thats a warning if ive ever seen one and a voilent one at that a drop of red strawberry juice hangs on the bottom of hunters lip just for a second before he licks it up with his tongue. Well, that's a obvious screw you to kaleb and I... and everyone else in the room, does he really think he can scare me with this show? I'm going to flirt with kaleb just to get under hunters skin no way am I giving him the satisfaction of seeing me run away, I know he's trying to scare me but it's not going to work on me. Eve narrows her eyes at Hunter waiting for his next move, "want to get something to eat?" Not even a little bit but I can't say that she tosses her head to look up at kaleb flirtatiously "I would love to" what are friends for, anyway if not to help you get under the skin of a hot, sexy, obnoxious guy? "Great i'm starving!" kaleb puts a hand on eves lower back and starts to guide her towards the buffet table but they have to pass Hunter to get there, there is a dark and dangerous look in his eyes that's telling eve not to push her luck. Suddenly all of her boldness melts away "actually kaleb I need to go" "go? Go where?" "I need to use the bathroom, i'll be right back" eve turns towards the door and walk away from kaleb and Hunter as fast as she can one thing is certain, that little show was meant to underscore just how insignificant I am to everyone in the room right now I just wish I knew why.
Once eve gets outside the room, she starts to run desperately trying to put space between herself and Hunter as much as she possibly can I have no idea what I did to make Hunter so mad I mean he doesn't even know me, from the first time we met he's been obnoxious to me and I dont know why, he doesn't know anything about me. I know i've been rude to him but that's because he was ruder and he did it first. Eve turns the corner and runs even faster, the hallways are really long and twisted, decorated with all kinds of creepy sconces but eve barely notices she's too busy still trying to put distance between her and Hunter, she turns another right and doesn't stop until she has run out of hallways eve stops letting herself catch her breathe. Eve straightens and tries to figure out what she's going to do when she suddenly realises that she's standing out the front of the school library, i've never been in a library I didn't like before eve opens the door and walks inside, the moment eve walks in she goes hit with the strangest feeling dreads begins to pool in her stomach and everything inside of her is telling her to turn about and go out the way she came. This is the strangest feeling i've had in my entire life but i'm going to ignore it i've done enough running today, i'm stick of all the weirdness i'm not about to run away yet again. Ignoring the feeling eve pushes on and moves closer into the library wow this place is totally cool! Eve looks at all the gargoyle statues when she hears music coming from the back of the library as she gets closer Eve realises it's not music but chanting and it's in a different language, eves curiosity turns to excitement i wonder if this is one of the 20 different languages spoken by montanas native people. Eve starts to walk towards the back doors of the library when she sees a girl holding an open book and reading from it, she flicks her head up as eve steps over the threshold "..."
I should introduce myself "hi, i'm sorry for interrupting, my names -" "you didn't, interrupt me. That is. I was almost done here." Despite this girls words the look in her eyes and on her face are anything but welcoming "I should go" "why? You havent even given me a chance to introduce myself, eve. I'm Francesca and I have a good feeling we're going to be really good friends" "hi, Francesca" fran gentle steers eve out the room before she can even get a chance to look around they both start walking to the centre of the library "let's get some tea and you can tell me all about yourself, we have plenty of time to talk about classes when we're actually stuck in them" "oh tea sounds wonderful, thank you so much i've been freezing since I got here so i'll take the opportunity to get warm any day" besides Francesca seems nice "awesome, it will give me a chance to fill you in on all the deets about nevermoor academy" Francesca pushes the main doors open and gestures eve to go through them she waits while Francesca turns off the lights and locks the doors to the library. "The library is usually closed on Sundays but i'm doing an independent study, so ms. Royce let's me work late sometimes." "Oh, i'm sorry, I didnt realise" "no need to apologise eve" she looks at eve with a vaguely exasperated face "how were you supposed to know? I'm just telling you why I have to lock up" wow she's being so nice
Francesca starts walking down the hallway looking at eve "since you aren't at the party, i'm assuming that your first full day here hasn't gone as smoothly as your cousin hoped?" She's got that right but I don't want to throw Lara under the bus especially since she isn't the problem I should make up an excuse for why I left the party "the party was good, I've just had a really long couple of days and I needed a break for a few minutes" "I bet, unless you come from North Dakota getting here is never easy" "yeah and i'm definitely not from North Dakota" an unexpected gust of wind finds it way through the hallway making eve shiver as she looks around to see where it's coming from but there's no window or doors open. "Montana is a long way from Ohio and I don't just mean in distance" "how do you know i'm from Ohio?" "Headteacher reily must of mentioned it when he let us know you were coming" if there anyone my uncle hasn't told my life story to? It's strange to meet people and realise they already know so much about me and I know nothing about them Francesca keeps talking to eve as they make there way to the stairs, pointing out different classrooms to eve.
they finally make it to Francesca's room in the west hallway eves surprised when she stops in front of a door that has no decorations on it Francesca must of seen eves face because she gives a wry smile "it's been a rough year. I wasn't up to decorating when I got back" "oh I know what you mean it's hard to be motivated when your life is upside down" "that's right, you do know don't you?" Eve ducks her head as she thinks about the accident and tears fill her eyes she tries not to let francesca see "much more than I want to, yeah" "my boyfriend died several months ago and everyone thinks i should have moved on but I was with him for a long time, it's not that easy to just let go, i'm sure you know" it's been a month since the fatal accident and I still feel like i'm in shock half the time, Francesca and I are just two people who pretend to be fine but on the inside are destroyed I should comfort her and tell her I know how she feels "i'm so sorry, I know the words aren't enough but I really am sorry" "they aren't enough nothing is" I know it when I wake up every morning with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I know it when clarity cuts through the fog and mist of sleep and I remember why i'm sad and when I remember that it's only been a month since my parents "is there anything I can do to help?" "Stay and have tea, I really don't want to be alone today" "of course i'll stay, tea sounds perfect."
Francesca nods eve to the second bed in her room indicating her to sit on it, she doesnt talk much as she makes the tea and eve doesn't either, it doesn't take long for the kettle to boil and Francesca to set a cup of tea down beside eve. "I hope you don't mind that I only make herbal tea" "oh that's much better than what I can do" Francesca looks intrigued as she looks up from the pot of flowers she scooping into the tea strainer "you make your own tea too?" "Oh no, my mum used to make the best herbal teas but I was always a disaster with them no matter how hard I tried." "im sure your better at it then you think" "pretty sure your wrong about that." "So how did the party go? Did you at least get to meet some people?" "I did yeah, they seemed nice enough" "your a really bad liar" "well yeah but it seemed polite to try" "at Nevermoor knowing how to lie is basically survival 101" "I guess i'm in serious trouble then" "I guess you are". There's no humour in Francescas voice and eve suddenly realises there wasn't any in her original status either. "Wait, what do you guys have to lie about that's so important?" Francesca looks her straight In the eyes "everything" ummm. How am I supposed to respond to that? What am I meant to say? After a few seconds Francesca laughs to fill the awkward silence "don't look so shocked i'm just kidding eve!" do i believe her, she looked too serious, she can pretend she was joking but she looked like she meant every word however I'm not about to call her out on it the air suddenly feels strange as eve tries to change the subject
"what language were you reading earlier? It sounded cool" "cheyenne, it's the language that evolved from plains algonquian" "thats incredible how did you figure out what the words soundly like?" "By coping how it's spelt but I don't know if i'm succeeding" a few more seconds pass again of both frames and eve not saying anything until they start to feel the awkward silence again when all of a sudden eve's phone starts vibrating with several texts in a row. I bet lara and kaleb finally got tired of waiting for me to come back eve pulls out her phone and sure enough her lock screen is filled with a series of messages from lara.
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COUSIN LARA
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Hey, where'd you go?
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I keep waiting for you to come back.
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I'm coming to find you
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Are you okay???
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Answer me!!!!!
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ARE. YOU. OKAY. EVE!!!!
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I should text lara back saying i'm okay im with Francesca.
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COUSIN LARA
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I'm in Francescas room. I'm okay
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What?? Why????
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We're just hanging out and having some herbal tea
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With Francesca? Why? What is happening?
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"Sorry Francesca, I've got to go laras freaking out" "why? Because you left the party you didn't want to be at, she'll get over it" "yeah but I think she's actually worried" "at least finish your drink and stay for a few more minute, you dont want your cousin to think she can be the boss of you." that's not fair laras not bossing me around after last night i'm not surprised she's worried she can't find me I should stand up for lara i'm not okay with Francesca talking about lara like that. " she's not bossing me around Francesca I think she's afraid that i'm upset or something besides if I know her she's on her way here right now." "Your right, Lara does tend to be hysterical sometimes" hysterical? Lara? I dont think so and it's not very nice to say that "Thats what I meant at all I just meant that she worries about me since my parents." Eve picks up her teacup and starts to carry it to the sink but Francesca stands up and takes it from her "dont worry about washing the cup just show Lara that i'm not murdering you" "murdering me? Why would she think that? She's a little protective but that's all" eve opens the door to reveal Lara on the other side, she throws her arms around eve "thank god your okay I thought something has happened to you" "What could of happened to me when nearly everyone is at the party, I just needed to go for a walk" "lots of things could of happened, I don't know" Lara looks at eve with a sudden uncertainty "I think Lara was worried you might of gone outside, if you had gone out in those clothes you'd be close to death by now" "yes exactly! I didn't want to find you frozen to death before your first full day in Montana is over" that's a strange answer even for Lara, especially considering she knows I would never do that but now isn't the time to go into that eve turns to Francesca's " thank you for everything it was nice to hang onto and get to know you" Francesca smiles at eve before hugging her "no worries! Stop by again soon and we'll do mani pedis" "sounds great and I love to hear more about the research your doing" "research? Mani pedis?" "Your invited to obviously Lara" before Lara can respond Francesca shuts the door in the girls faces.
That seems weird considering how friendly she's been with me all night then again the second Lara showed up Francesca got a lot sharper maybe her abrupt good night has more to do with Lara than it does with me "I can't believe you got invited to Francesca leahs room again! To do mani pedis!" "Lara, i'm fun to hang out with why wouldn't she want to do mani pedis with me" "it's not you obviously it's just that Francesca isn't normally big on making friends, she's one of the most popular girls and takes great measures to ensure everyone knows she's better than them, plays lately she's been really reclusive" "yeah well, after losing her boyfriend I figured she would be entitled to that" "she told you about that?" "Yeah was it a secret" lara's voice is suddenly off when she talks and she tries to look anywhere but at eve. "No, it's just... i've heard she dosnt't talk about Caiden anymore" "well, she didn't really talk about him it was more that he had died a couple of months ago" "oh, yeah well that's true, he died last year" I want to push for more information but she already seems so uncomfortable that it would seem rude. Eve and Lara walk in silence giving the subject time to disolve when they get back to their room eves stomach starts to revolt again, she barely makes it to the bathroom before throwing up looks like Montana really is trying to kill me after all.
Eve spends the next hour trying to throw up whatever is left in her stomach when the nausea finally stops she's exhausted and her headache is back in full swing "should I get the nurse" I should tell Lara not to worry about me and that I just need sleep " you look so worried, please dont im fine I promise" "you don't look fine, your really pale" "I did just spend the last hour throwing up of course i'm pale" "okay okay, get some sleep but Im here if you need anything" as eve goes to answer she starts to yawn but before she knows it she's asleep. Eve wakes up disoriented trying to remember where she is when it suddenly comes flooding back, everything feels better now eves head has stopped spinning and her throat doesn't hurt either but it is dry, huh, i'm good as new eve sits up and realises the rest of her body isn't feeling the same way her head is, nearly every muscle aches like they've been used to climb a mountain or ran a marathon. I'm in no mood to get up or put a happy face on for the first day of classes eve lies back down and pulls the covers over her head, she's lying there when Lara wakes up with a moan and a grumble but it only takes her a few seconds to climb out of bed and shuffle herself over to see eve "eve" "i'm okay, just sore" "that's just the dehydration" Lara pours two glasses of water and hands one to eve before sitting back down on her own bed "I have to go to my classes today, I have tests, but i'll come back and check on you when I can between classes" "Lara will uncle reily be okay with me skipping class today I dont want to make him upset" "your not ditching if you've spent the night throwing your guts up" "good point, maybe I will stay here after all" there's a sudden knock at the door "whos -" "my dad, who else?"
Lara crosses the room to answer the door with a flourish except it isn't uncle reily its kaleb who takes one look at Lara and her pajamas and laughs then looks at eve with her smudged makeup and the dress from the night before and starts smiling even more "looking good ladies" Lara runs to the bathroom with embarrassment but eve just sticks out her tongue at kaleb as he laughs. "Where'd you run off to and why?" Oh god what do I say to him, the truth or do I avoid with a joke or a lie? "The attitude really got to me last night i threw up after getting back to the room" "that's sucks, are you feeling okay now?" "I'm feeling almost back to normal today, guess I just had to get used to being in the mountains" "glad to hear it because I've got a question for you, so a load of us are having a snow ball fight after dinner tonight, thought you might want to join?" "A SNOWBALL FIGHT, THAT SOUNDS AWESOME! Really? I've never even made a snowball before" "youve never made a snowball! Well now you have to join we can't leave it like that with no snowball experience" "careful, eve never trust a..." Lara comes out the bathroom and starts to speak when kaleb turns around and raises an eyebrow "there having a snowball fight after class today" "seriously!? We have to go, eve kalebs snowball fights are historical around here" "well if I end up dying in the middle of it i'm haunting you both forever" "i'm pretty sure you'll survive" "and if not I can think of worse ways to spend eternity" before eve can think of an answer kaleb leans overs and gentle kisses her cheek "see you later, new girl" and just like that he's gone sliding out the door leaving eve with her mouth wide open and lara clapping with excitement.
Why is it no matter how hard kaleb tries and how adorable he is he can't make me feel the same way as Hunter does "did he just...." "Lara he's just being friendly, you know he's a friendly guy" "well he's never been that friendly to me or anyone else that I've seen" "you have a boyfriend he's probably too scared that if he's too friendly it will make Erick mad" "give me a break, in what world would kaleb be afraid of Erick? I'm just saying kaleb likes you" despite lara's words there's something in her tone that has eve narrowing her eyes as she follows Lara to the closet where she's fussing about her uniform what's going on here I don't want to step on lara's feet if she really does like kaleb I should just ask her straight if she does or not "you want me to talk to him, see if he will kiss you next time?" "Of course not! I'm very happy kissing Erick thank you" however Lara won't meet eves eyes as she's pulling on her uniform "seriously though, do you have a crush on kaleb for real?" "Of course I dont!" Her voice breaks on the last word and it makes her whole presence look unconvincing. "If you want to be with kaleb shoukdnt hiu just break up with erick and go for it? "One i dont want to be with kaleb and two even if i wanted to its not like we could be together anyway. Its not like that here" "what do you mean its not like that here?" "the different groups you saw, they dont mix that much" "lar, i hate to be to break it to you but its like that anywhere, if you like him you should just go for it" "im not going for anything except break and you need to go back to bed" "really? Your just going to run away from the conversation because it makes you uncomfortable?" "im not runnin away, im going to class, bye" lara grabs her backpack and waves goodbye to eve on her way out, eve crawls back into bed and pulls the covers up to her face.
The next time eve wakes up its late afternoon and her stomach is rumberling, after eating a load of peanut butter and a packet of crackers eve finally feels human again. I feel so trapped in this room and school I should watch some Netflix to stop myself thinking about what's happening, eve tries to watch a rom-com but she can't keep her mind on the story instead she's thinking about Hunter I wonder what he's doing, what class he's in, whats hes's wearing today? Maybe a walk around the school grounds will help me keep my mind off him. Eve takes a quick shower and then looks through the closet of clothes macy set up for her it's not like I'm planning on running into him but if I do then I want to wear something cute just because I have to dress like a snowman to keep me warm doesn't mean I need to look like one, eve leaves a note for Lara saying that she's exploring the school and heads out.
Ducking her face into the collar of coat she starts walking across the yard eve notices that the more she walks the warmer she becomes so she decides to start looking around, eves stuck between how beautiful everything is and how is it all on the campus I want to make a snowball before the big game later eve scoops some snow instead her gloved hands and pats it into a ball it's so much colder than I imagined it to be she looks around thinking where she can throw the snowball eve decided to hurl it at the nearest tree and watches it explode with satisfaction. Eve comes across a stoned pathway that goes around the grounds she gets a sense that she should turn around it feels similar to the sense I got when I was at the library, it's probably just my imagination getting the better of me eve heads down the path until she comes across a frozen pond and a snow topped gazebo great, I can sit down for a bit i'm still warming up to this altitude. Eve takes a couple of steps forward when she realises it's already occupied by Francesca and... Hunter.
They're arguing loudly to the point where eve can hear them but can't quite make out the words this conversation sounds instense I should try and back away so I don't interrupt them whatever there talking about is none of my business as eve starts to turn around and walk away she's hears Francesca now screaming "don't you dare talk about caiden to me after what you did" then suddenly SLAP! Francesca palm around hunters face hit so hard his head went backwards but he doesn't react instead he simply catches her wrist when it comes flying at his face again, the rage in francesca's voice is filled with agony that claws into eve and brings tears in her eyes I know those sounds, I know the agony that causes them, the rage that makes it impossible to contain them and the pain they leave inside everyday. Instinctively eve takes a step towards them wanting to help with the pain inside Francesca and the violence that hangs in the air, when suddenly both of them are staring at her with eyes that sends a chill through her spine. A chill that has nothing to do with the cold but everything to do with them it's like they're both predators and they're waiting to sink their teeth into the prey which is eve.
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