The next day, El wakes up early instead of laying in bed until lunch. After getting dressed, she walks towards Miss Blanchard's office and knocks on her door.
"Come in." She hears. She opens the doors and walks inside. She can see Miss Blanchard is surprised to see her here this early, she'd be surprised too if she was in her place.
"Elizabeth, is everything okay?" Miss Blanchard asks, El nods while sitting down in an empty seat.
It takes some courage for El to talk "DoyouknowwhereAutumnlivesnow?" she asks really fast and Miss Blanchard couldn't understand.
"A bit slower, please."
El takes a deep breath before asking again.
"Do you know where Autumn lives now?" Miss Blanchard is surprised by this sudden question, El swore she never wanted to see Autumn again only a few weeks ago.
"The answer to your question is yes, but I am not allowed to tell you." Miss Blanchard pauses, observing El closely. She can see El is disappointed by this. "But I could accidentally leave my keys on my bureau while I get some coffee." Miss Blanchard adds before leaving the room.
El rushes to the bureau, grabs the keys and opens the drawer with all files of adopted orphans. She finds Autumn's file within a minute and starts searching.
Date of birth: May 19th, 2033
No.
Appearance: blonde hair, green-
No.
"Where is it, where is it?" El mutters, stressing badly.
No.
No.
No.
"Come on."
address: nom de rue 356
"Got it!" El says, memorising the name before leaving the office. She passes Miss Blanchard on her way out, who simply smiles at her.
El skates towards the address she read from Autumn's files but once she arrives, she's too scared to actually ring the doorbell. She's been mean to Autumn ever since they saw each other again, there's no way Autumn would be glad to see her. But then yet again, she can't go back to the orphanage without accomplishing anything, she has to see it through.
When she rings the doorbell, a middle-aged man opens the door.
"Yes?" He asks, something about him gives El creepy chills.
"I'm here to see Autumn. I'm a fr- someone from school."
"Autumn doesn't want anyone visiting her, come back another time." The man says, closing the door in El's face.
"Are you kidding me?!" El shouts, but the door doesn't open again. El wants to give up and go back, telling herself she tried, but Plagg stops her.
"You're not gonna give up, are you? Just keep annoying them until they let you in. And if they don't, climb up to Autumn's room to see if what he's saying is true. Parents can lie too." El laughs at the idea, but after thinking it through, she should be able to climb. Although, there's another problem with that plan.
"I don't know which room is Autumn's."
"You go ring the doorbell, I'll find her room in the meantime. And I promise I won't be seen." Plagg says, flying off. El walks up to the door and rings the bell again. And again. And again. Every time, the door closes in her face, he doesn't even open the door anymore after the fifth time.
"I found her room, it's the one with the balcony. I think you should be able to reach it." Plagg says after being gone for about four minutes. El thanks him and follows Plagg to the balcony. It's high, but it's not impossible to reach.
"Does this make me a criminal?" El asks, while using the loose bricks in the walls to climb up.
"Not if you don't get caught." Plagg says.
After a few attempts, El manages to grab the balcony with one hand and climbs upon it. She then knocks on the window, hoping Plagg was right about this being Autumn's room. Her anxiety is rising though, if Autumn doesn't want to see her, she could legally call the cops.
Autumn has been laying in bed all day, she didn't feel like doing anything. At all. She didn't even talk to Tikki, who was hopelessly trying to cheer Autumn up. When afternoon is about to start, she hears a knock on her window. At first, she thought she'd imagined it, who could be there anyway? But after hearing it another time, she tells Tikki to hide before walking towards her window.
The glass door from Autumn's room to her balcony opens and the two former friends stare at each other for a while, neither of them know what to say. El decides she should start, she's the one who is randomly sitting on the balcony after all.
"I rang your doorbell a couple of times but they didn't let me in. So I climbed your wall." El wanted to say a lot of things, but those were the only words she managed to get out.
Autumn keeps staring without a word. She doesn't know what she should feel. Angry because El made her feel down for the past months? Happy because this is the first time El properly talks to her in years? Something else? She's confused.
"Come in, but be quiet." Autumn says, not sure what else to say or do. El comes in and stands awkwardly in Autumn's room while Autumn locks her door.
"I have no idea what's going on or why you're here. So I'd like an explanation." Autumn demands.
"How about an apology? I've been a complete ass to you for the past months because of something you couldn't even control. And I'm really sorry." El says, staring at her own feet. She doesn't want to see Autumn's reaction. If they weren't on the first floor right now, El would have made a run for it.
Autumn walks up to El, slaps her in the face and then hugs her. It confuses El at first, but the hug feels familiar and comfortable, as if nothing else matters at that moment, so she hugs back.
They eventually break out of the hug.
"I think this is the first time I've heard you apologise." Autumn says, laughing a bit. El can't seem to laugh, or even smile, she doesn't understand.
"Why did you forgive me this easily? You should be angry at me like I've been angry at you!" El asks for an explanation, should she be happy or cry? Why is Autumn forgiving her this easily, it took El years before she could forgive Autumn!
"I could tell you, or I could punish you by not telling you." Autumn laughs. El keeps quiet. Is this it? She came all this way, prepared for getting shouted at and rejected, but a slap in the face is all she gets?
They keep quiet for a while, both of them notice it won't go back to being best friends right away, their friendship is too bruised for that.
"Maybe I should go." El says, walking towards the balcony again, ready to get down. Autumn doesn't complain, she needs to think before doing anything first.
"Guess I'll see you at school Monday." El says once she's down. Autumn, who's now standing on her balcony, nods.
"See you Monday."
Autumn watches El skate off and once she's out of sight, Autumn sits down where she was standing, not sure what to do. All her feelings seem to be mixed up now. Did El really come all this way just to apologise? Why? What made her change her mind?
"Are you happy?" Tikki asks, she could hear the whole conversation from her hiding spot.
"I don't know." Autumn answers honestly.
"Sometimes talking about what you're feeling helps you understand them." Tikki offers. Autumn takes the offer and starts thinking out loud.
"I know I should be happy, but I somehow don't, I might actually feel worse than before. I don't understand why though. Maybe because I wanted to do more to make El forgive me, like — I don't know — this doesn't give me the satisfaction I needed. Or maybe it's because I feel like El only apologised to not feel guilty herself. But then yet again, why would she feel guilty? She doesn't know anything. Or maybe, I guess, I liked the fact that she ignored me. Because if we're getting closer again, I might not be able to ignore my feelings like I did before."
YOU ARE READING
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