[chapter one]
The wind swirled at her curtain bangs that distracted her vision, she ran too fast on their open cobblestone corridors. Augusta is late for her Mozart Descendants Club meeting. It was the first club's meeting after the school year started in June, last month. Her airways ragged as she stepped into the meeting room, it greeted her nothing but their indistinct and busy conversations.
On the corner where she sat with late-comers, Augusta observed their instructors in the front board preparing their list of agendas as seen on the clear-glass board.
Augusta hates being poked, which is a sudden moment, someone did to her. The girl who poked was hesitant, but she had no choice, Betty was in dire need of a pen. "Hey, uhm- do you, perhaps, have a pen that I could borrow. I badly need it and I am sorry for bothering you."
"A-and I will return it after the meeting."
Augusta could tell that she was in desperate need, her notebook was wide open and longing for an ink, and Betty's face was slightly flushed as she pursed her lips. She remained silent and quickly grabbed her stationery purse, handing an ink-jet pen afterward. Betty swiftly gripped the pen and began outlining the meeting minutes, she has her own system of doing it.
Although it was strange not to hear any word from the stranger who let her borrow a pen, Augusta stilled her kind smile because she was happy to help.
The meeting officially started, and Betty began to take down important information for the minutes. Both of the girls listened carefully and eagerly. Mr. Dan, along with other music moderators began their startup agendas for the summary of activities for the new academic year.
They elected officers and liaisons, August naturally get rid of these responsibilities unlike the girl beside her, Betty, who was too involved with the table discussion as she writes the minutes.
The meeting officially ended at exactly 4:15 P.M and as if it was on cue, home called her phone. Rebecca, her mom, urgently needed an extra hand in their shop. "You can have the pen; I have to go," she said as turned to Betty.
Augusta was the first one to leave the room, leaving Betty unable to return the pen that she borrowed.
She walked through the door and zipped all of the openings of her bag. A few inches later, a familiar figure leaned against the wall. It reminded her of the pain that she got last summer, and now, it was freshly resurfaced, flashed before her eyes.
It was obvious that the guy was waiting for someone in the meeting room. James met her eyes, he stilled and his gaze on her as well. Thin air seems to gush on Augusta's nose as soon as her legs slowed down from walking.
His chest toiled to keep his breath from ragging. It wasn't so intense as Ella described the very moment; she was immediately poured herself into a silent rage. She gulped her grudged and kept on walking away from him.
Their silence says a lot.
Augusta went home, her problematic home. When she arrived, everyone was busy running the shoe business. She rushed to their shop nearby to ship the products that her dad and his team handcrafted.
A bustling number of empty boxes was still pending, it needs a shoe that corresponds to the order. She's not sure how that system worked but that's the remaining task for the rest of them. Augusta did not hesitate to put her hair on a quick bun and started helping.
Batch by batch, number by number, and box by box, she was able to organize a huge quantity of shoe orders on the wagon that will be transported on the truck. Augusta grabbed the nearest glass of water in their countertop when she immediately noticed a spare box, it seemed like an unfinished order, the pair of shoes wasn't inside.
Since it was not that difficult to manually assist the order, she traced the order number herself, she also assessed the specification of the shoe which made her petrified in realization.
It was the shoe she made last summer personally for someone who completed her biggest piece of memory during summer. She remained esteemed despite being unhinged with pain from within.
The shoe has the same size as James's. Her summer thing.
© Leo Polaris
