Mystic High ✓

MH │15

In the previous chapter: Oriane and Charlotte attended detention. Carolina directed them back to the storage area where a wall was waiting to be fixed.

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

They worked in silence.

Despite the lack of chatter, they worked efficiently. Charlotte's Water affinity came in handy when it came to drying out paints and fillers. And Oriane? Well, she did most of the non-magickal work. Not that she had a choice in the matter. She couldn't work a hint of magick even after a week at Mystic High. Inwardly, she berated herself at her own incompetence.

But Charlotte barely said anything to her aside from what was related to the task at hand, which irked Oriane since Charlotte always engaged her into casual conversation.

Well, she was always rather quiet compared to Marian. Still, Oriane could tell she was acting differently and she was certain she was mad at her. Oriane guessed it was because she landed them both in detention.

Charlotte probably never gotten into one before. And this incident would likely be marked into their student records forever. Likely. Oriane crossed her fingers it wouldn't be on record at all.

Maybe she would broach the topic with Carolina. She seemed pretty upset to find Oriane at the detention. Perhaps she could convince her to write off this incidence. It probably wouldn't happen ever again. Probably.

Now she had to try to ingratiate herself with Charlotte again.

"Charlotte..."

"Hm?" That didn't exactly inspire confidence. Regardless, Oriane pursed her lips and dived straight to the point.

"Are you angry with me?" she asked, pausing her work. A slab of filler dropped onto the floor from the spatula she held up.

"What-?"

"It's because I got us into this mess, right?" Oriane waved her spatula around while she searched Charlotte's eyes for confirmation, but she only waited for her to finish. "Then I'm sorry," she copped out. "I didn't mean for us to get caught out, let alone in detention."

Charlotte looked pensively at Oriane, and shook her head. "I'm not. Not at you definitely."

"Then what is it?" Oriane dropped the spatula, leaving it on the floor, to spread her hands out, quite miffed.

"It's nothing..."

Oriane put her hands on her hips, a worried look on her face. "What is it?" she asked again.

She was firstly gladdened that Charlotte wasn't mad at her, however also concerned as to what it was that was making Charlotte act differently with her. She didn't suppose she was that quiet around Marian yesterday. Otherwise, Marian would have taken notice and confronted Oriane about it - which she didn't do or that she had forgotten to do it. But the latter was unlikely. So Charlotte probably wanted to talk to her about something if she wasn't angry.

After a long pause and a bit of fidgeting, Charlotte confessed, "I'm kind of scared... for you."

"What do you mean?" Without her guard, Charlotte looked quite haunted, if Oriane was honest with herself.

In any case, the look flickered away as soon as Oriane caught it. It still rather disturbed her.

Yet, Charlotte shook her head, frowning, backing away. "Seriously, it's probably nothing."

Oriane walked over to her and took her hands. It was icy. "If it's something that's bothering you, you should tell me. We can discuss it and exchange ideas - something like that."