𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 || 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰

Chapter Two: Speaking of school

Chapter Two:

Early the next morning, Matty was up and sitting at her desk, a few pieces of parchment laid out in front of her and a fountain pen in hand. She was writing down all the points in her story that she had in order to make a solid plotline.

From a young age, Matty had been a great storyteller. Many people who knew her from a young age could easily recall Matty sitting with her younger cousins around the fire and telling them stories that she had come up with only moments earlier. The way she told them captivated the minds of the young ones-and sometimes even the minds of the adults around them. The stories were never monotone or dull, always full of life and adventure.

And also from a young age, Matty had admired authors like Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, and Louisa May Alcott, who inspired her to write and create stories. Each one of these women had inspired her enough to want to turn writing into a career for herself. In fact, Matty recalled being in "severe distress" when she heard the news of Louisa May Alcott's death only two years prior in 1888. These women and their great writings had also helped shape Matty into the young woman she was.

Often comparing herself to characters like Jo March, who shared similar aspirations to Matty herself. Thinking back to the conversation she had with her parents the night prior, maybe the possibility of getting a higher education from whomever this man was, wasn't entirely a bad idea.

She leaned back in her chair to look out the window, just to collect her thoughts. But when she saw her best friend, Hope, waving her hands in the hope of getting her attention, Matty immediately smiled and got up. The parchment and pen were quickly forgotten as Matty grabbed her shoes and slipped them on, hopping on one leg to get them on for each foot.

She rushed down the stairs and slid over to the door. "Mum, Da! I'm going out with Hope!" She called out before opening the door and running out to her friend.

"I was wondering where you were, I thought you'd be out earlier," Hope said to Matty as she ran over. Usually, Matty was out first thing in the morning. "Ah, I was just writing some stuff and got distracted is all," Matty answered. The thought of telling Hope about everything she had been experiencing was in the back of her mind, almost screaming at her to tell her already. Hope was her best friend, what was the worst that could happen? The clouds ahead were gray and weary, perhaps it was going to rain that day. The weather didn't help Matty feel any better about the situation than she already did.

Hope nodded her head and the two started to walk off to the streets. It was surprisingly busy today, with people bartering in the streets and all in a rush to get somewhere. So Matty and Hope just stayed close, keeping to the sides of the streets.

Hope had always been a good friend to Matty ever since they were young and Matty moved to London from Ireland. Hope never made fun of Matty for her strong Irish accent like many of the other kids did when she first moved here and although Matty had learned to cover up her native accent, Hope still encouraged her to not hide it when they were hanging out together.

Hope was a sweet fifteen-year-old girl. She had dark skin, and gorgeous brown eyes, and usually wore her curls in a natural hairstyle. If Matty were completely honest-which she was, Hope was the kindest person she had ever met (besides maybe Hope's Mother and maybe her own). Because of her kind nature, Matty questioned why she was even nervous to speak to her best friend of all people about the strange events going on.

So then, finally Matty decided to speak up, at least going to tell her about her parents supposedly meeting up with a professor sometime. "Last night my parents told me that there's some Professor sent them a letter wanting to speak to them about me or something like that," Matty said to her as they walked down the streets of London.