"You've always had such beautiful handwriting," Sejanus complimented as he watched Liville sign her name at the Academy's front office. Just a few more papers to go through before she was officially enrolled. "Nice and big too. Easy to read."
Briefly, she wondered if he was being serious. If he'd really found it uncommonly pretty, or if he was just looking for another way to compliment her.
"You must be talking about my signature," she replied. "My mother designed it for me. Made me learn how to copy it. My actual handwriting isn't as nice."
She was handed another paper to sign. She squinted, holding the paper closer to her face to read it, before pulling it away to sign again. The ink they used her so was light, it blended into the paper, she could hardly read some of the things she signed.
Her final enrollment papers were whisked away by workers. Already in the red Academy attire, she waited patiently for someone to bring her the workbook needed for class, which started in exactly twenty minutes.
"Oh, of course it is. The writing in your letters was always nice." He laughed a bit. "When I first started getting them, I actually used to wonder if you were even writing them, or if you had an adult write it. You had perfect cursive at thirteen, it was amazing."
She beamed at the compliment, for she had been used to her older sisters telling her that her cursive was sloppy and childlike. "Really? Perfect?" She smiled and stepped closer to him to explain, "My mother insisted I was taught cursive first."
Sejanus noticed her step closer. He smiled because of it. But he was also caught off guard by, "Cursive first? Like, before regular letters? How is that possible? I barely know it myself."
"Barely know it? You wrote me in cursive too."
"I tried to learn it so I could match you. I-" He chuckled. "I could barely read your first few letters. Why do you think it used to take me so long to respond? I could never remember how to do the 's's right."
She laughed lightly, unsure if he was serious or joking again. "I guess I assumed they took a while because you had better things to do."
No, he hadn't. He was a lonely child. But for obvious reasons, he didn't want to disclose his embarrassing lack of friends to a girl he wanted to impress. So he just said, "Can't think of anything better than having your attention."
She smiled up at him. "You know, whenever you wrote to me, you used to have such perfect responses to everything I'd say. I thought you must've taken time crafting your replies, that you couldn't be that quick witted in real life." She laughed. "But you are so smooth talking, Sejanus."
He had a quick response to everything. Except to that. He became flustered. She wasn't trying to tease him, yet he found himself fluttered with nerve.
But a reply was unnecessary anyway, because Liville was called into the office to get her photo taken. After coming out with a student ID, Sejanus showed her around the building during their time to spare before class.
Walking down the hall together, he hesitantly brought up, "Liv, I feel...there may have been a little dishonesty in my letters. A small truth I stretched." She looked up at him. She opened her mouth to reply, but Sejanus kept talking, "Just about my classmates. And, my popularity, I guess. I told you I get along well with the other students, but truthfully they don't...accept people easily. Especially if you're district."
She frowned. "Still? I thought they grew out of it."
Sejanus had sent her multiple letters in the past, complaining of students being unkind and him not knowing what to do about it. She'd assured him the bullying would stop. She thought it had. But apparently he just became too embarrassed about it to mention it to her anymore.
