Denial (Storm and Silence fanfiction)

Chauvinists. Chauvinists everywhere.

My first class was called 'Political History', though it really should have been called 'Endless List of All the Male Chauvinists Who Screwed Up During History and a Few Slightly Less Chauvinistic Men Who Happened to Possess the Slightest Bit of Intelligence'.

I figured that was too long and male egos were a bit too sensitive for that to be practical.

When Mr. Ambrose and I walked into the aula (without knocking, of course), the professor, a bald male with a ridiculous white moustache, turned to face us and opened his mouth, probably to scold us for being late, but then he recognised Mr. Ambrose, and he nearly fainted from shock.

I could feel the smugness radiate from him as he gave a curt, almost sarcastic bow, and sat down in the back of class, leaving me for the wolves -I mean, the teacher and my peers.

Before anyone could do anything, I decided to take a leaf out of my good friend Captain Carter's book.

With a snappy bow and what I hoped was a charming smile I stepped further into the room and said: "Well, hello, Sir. I am truly sorry that I and my friend Rikkard are late to your without a doubt splendidly interesting class. We were just having a rather interesting discussion about politics, matter of fact. You see, we have rather conflicting opinions, and we got carried away a bit. My sincere apologies."

I mentally high-fived myself, as Rikkard turned his ice-cold gaze to me.

The professor looked at a loss of words, he probably wasn't used to the amount of nonsense that just came tumbling out of my mouth.

But when he did respond, I realised that he was just impressed by my alleged friendship with Mr. Ambrose, rather than my incredible gift for spouting words strung together into almost coherent sentences.

"Y-yes, all right," he stuttered, "Go and sit down with your... friend, Mr?"

"Linton. Victor Linton. Pleasure." I gave another snappy bow and then joined Mr. Still-Not-Sporting-An-Expression Ambrose, I mean, my good friend Rikkard, in the back row.

Not by choice, of course, oh no! I certainly did not want to sit next to him! Especially after the stunt I had just pulled. I was certain he would find a way to make it about him -he always did, blast him!

But maybe that's because it is always about him, isn't it?

Curses! Just when I thought that my inner voice had crawled into a deserted corner and died, it was back.

No, I only sat down next to him because... Because it was in the back, so the teacher couldn't see me. Yes, that was it! I was truly impressed by my quick wits. Thinking of the most favorable place to sit without even consciously contemplating it! I patted myself on the shoulder.

Good job, Lilly! You are already proving yourself smarter than all the male nincompoops sitting in the front!

I smiled to myself, but quickly stopped when I noticed Mr. Ambrose' left little finger twitching.

"Why are you so emotional?" I whispered.

"I... What?"

He was surprised by my question, which I could tell because the temperature of his voice had risen to that of someone else's voice when they were being extremely cold. He probably thought I didn't know he had emotions. Hah! As if something so obvious would ever escape my excellent senses! Especially if it came to him.

Wait, what? No. Not because it was him. I didn't pay more attention to him than I did to any other male!

My inner voice rolled her eyes.

Okay, I admitted reluctantly to myself, I guess I do pay an awful lot of attention to Mr. Ambrose. But I did that because I was his private secretary. I was so used to it that I just kept doing it now.

My inner voice rolled her eyes a bit louder.

But that was the truth! It wasn't like I paid more attention to him than any other secretary would. Did I? Even if I did -It wasn't my fault he was so interesting!

My inner voice smirked at me, and I was getting ready to slap her in the face when Mr. Ambrose snapped me out of it.

"-ter Linton. Are you alright? ... Miss Linton?"

My eyes snapped to his. Did he just... No. I must have heard him wrong.

"Sorry, Sir. I spaced out."

He looked back to the front and there was no doubt in my mind that, unlike me, he had been paying attention to what the professor was saying.

"Back to Sir, are we, ifrit?"

I frowned. "Did you just call me ifrit?"

"No."

"But you-"

"I called you Victor, Mr. Linton. Are you getting hard of hearing?" he said, not looking at me.

"Mister Linton!"

The yelling of the words 'Mr. Linton' caused me to jump and sit up straighter, immediately giving Mr. Ambrose my full attention -when I realised that 1) I no longer worked for him and 2) it wasn't him who was calling my name as if I'd just set him on fire (which would be disastrous for Mr. Ambrose, since he's 80% solid ice). It was the professor, and I instantly relaxed again.

"Yes, professor?" I asked sweetly.

"What are you and Mr. Ambrose discussing that is so important it cannot wait until after my class ends?" he asked, undignified.

I glanced at Mr. Ambrose, but he was about as helpful as an actual granite statue would have been.

"We were implementing the interesting ideas you put forward into our earlier discussion. I do believe it is at a completely new level now."

The professor did not look all too convinced and the next question had me cursing under my breath. "May I inquire what that particular discussion is about?"

"But of course, professor," I smiled, "Of course you may. It's about... It's about..."

Then I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Women's suffrage! Yes." No! Lilly, what are you doing?! Think of something else! Quickly, before they realise that you are not one of them! "Mr. Ambrose and I agree that the fellows in the parliament are idiots, but we disagree on why."

I could feel Mr. Ambrose ice-cold glare on the side of my face, but I daren't look at him.

"And which of you is a supporter of the suffragettes?"

::

A/N My little finger is asleep -.-'

Okay, so I did finish this last night... But my chromebook didn't realize it was connected to the internet and today my dad had to work and then I can't have WiFi because it slows or computer down too much. Like what? Anyhow, here it is. What did you think?

Personally, I love Lilly's inner voice LOL she's so much sassier than mine.

Next update: 24th of February. As the last time, feel free to yell at me if I miss it (though perhaps give me a day in case my internet malfunctions again). Shoutout to dayanaperez1324 for doing it now :P. You rock, girl.

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day myself, not because I don't believe in romance, but because I believe that romance has to be personal and meaningful and Valentine's is totally commercialised... I wish you a happy Valentine though and I hope you spent time with your loved one(s), familial, romantic, platonic or otherwise.