Black Iris

Turning tides.

Rose

I was on breakfast duty the next morning, so when I woke up and got ready for the day, Charlie was still asleep. This meant that I spent the next half an hour quietly getting ready without trying to disturb her, and also quietly freaking out about the upcoming conversation, in which I would have to justify why I was sleeping in her room. First, I slipped outside and went back to my old room, where I collected my clothes quickly before going back.

Then, I got changed, and paused, wondering if she was still asleep. But her breathing was even and she hadn't moved, so I decided I would talk to her later, and headed to the mess hall.

The rest of the morning ran pretty smooth. I ended up on egg duty, helping serve. As people began to trickle in, I zoned out and let myself just get lost in the repetitive task of scooping them up and putting them on people's plates.

That was until someone brought me out of my daydream.

"Hey, Charlie," I said, as I took her plate. She gave me a gentle smile.

"Hey, roomie," she said. When I gave her a quizzical look she shrugged. "I saw your stuff and asked the teachers."

"Oh," I said. Then, "I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "No reason to be sorry. You're fine."

The person behind her in the line cleared his throat, to indicate that she was holding up the queue.

"We'll talk later," she told me, then smiled and moved along.

'Later' ended up not happening, though, because by the time I finished breakfast duty, Charlie had gone back to the room, and I had to eat breakfast on my own.

For the rest of the day, I kept waiting for an opportunity to talk to her, and I finally caught up with her after English.

"Hey, can we talk?" I asked, gently grabbing her arm as she packed up her bag.

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, but not right now."

I frowned. "What do you mean? Classes are over for the day?"

"Correct," she said. "But I have an appointment with the counsellors, to talk about my 'delinquent behaviour.' I would ditch, to talk to you, but I think that kind of defeats the point."

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied.

"It's okay though," she said. "We can sit together at dinner and chat. Okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

She threw me a reassuring smile then gave a small wave and walked off in the direction of the counsellors office

I sighed and turned around. I guess it was another afternoon of combing through court documents and legal evidence for me.

I went back and collected the dreaded folder from my room and returned to my spot by the river to study.

I very quickly zoned out, and by the time the dinner bell rang, I had barely gotten through a few pages. I sighed, walked back to my room to drop off the folder, then headed to the dining hall and joined the queue.

When I got inside with my food, I looked around for Charlie, but couldn't see her. Feeling dejected, like I'd been neglected again, I sat down at a vacant table in the corner.

Then, halfway through my meal, a girl I didn't recognise bounded up to me.

"Hey, you're Phil right?"