Ascendio - Book 1

Chapter 12 - Chandler

I had a weird dream a couple nights ago...

Some grove. Talking people. I can't really remember the specific details.

Cress says she had one two. It's weird... I don't think this is a normal twin thing.

I'm just glad we made up. I think the violet I left--or rather, the violet I asked Tristan to help me leave--helped. We can finally spend time together, without all that Slytherin-Hufflepuff nonsense.

Except now I'm swamped.

Schoolwork, paperwork, busywork--books to study from, papers to write, essays to come up with, quizzes to take... I feel like I'm drowning in paper and ink!

Cress is trying to help me with it, and I'm trying to help her with her homework... but we can't cover it all. I mean, who would know the seventy-six properties of the Cordelia flower when applied to human skin?!

Right now, I'm walking down the hallways of Hogwarts, trying to find the library. Cress and I have been meeting there ever since we got swamped... but the moving staircases and ghosts and things make it hard to find my way around.

Sighing, I check my watch--an old-fashioned thing I got from Gramps. I'm a few minutes late. Walking faster, I turn a sharp corner--

"Ow!" A girl says as she slams into me. Or do I slam into her? She falls backwards on to the ground, the books she's carrying spilling all over the floor.

I lean down to give her a hand up. "Are you okay--wait, Joyce?"

The Ravenclaw gives me a shy smile. "Hi, Chandler... how have you been?"

"G-Good," I say. I can't really think of anything else to tell her, so I stumble over to where her books fell and start picking them up.

Joyce gives me a little smile and starts helping me pick up her supplies. "So... how's Cress?" she asks, glancing over at me before returning to her work. A bit of her brown hair falls in front of her eyes, and my hand itches. What's happening to me? Suddenly Joyce shows up and...

It takes me a moment to realize she's looking for an answer. "Uh... s-she's good. We... we made up. I said sorry n' stuff."

Joyce's face hardens. "You didn't have to apologize for anything, Chandler."

"W-What...?"

Joyce turns away from me, but grabs her books from my hands. "She's the predjudiced one. I know there's... some... story that I'm not aware of, but she shouldn't have treated you like that just because you scare her."

I scare Cress? "W-what?"

Joyce shakes her head. She starts walking down the hallway, leaving me standing there. Where the hallway turns a corner, she stops, and looks back at me. 

"You deserve better than her. Tristan deserves better than her, too. And..." she looks away, but I could've sworn there was something red on her face. "I think... I think I could help one of you... b-but..."

Without another word, Joyce runs down the hallway, out of my sight. There was definitely something red on her face, I muse. I look down at my watch--I really am late now!

Hurrying down the hallway, I get to the library and slip inside. I can see Cress at our normal table, but someone's next to her. I walk over and set my books on the table.

"Nice to see you, Chandler," Tristan greets me, smiling his stupid grin, holding out a hand for me to shake.

"...hi," I say, sitting down and ignoring his outstretched hand.

"Chandler," Cress hisses at me, and I roll my eyes. I just want time with my sister. Why does she have to get so weird around Tristan? He's just another dopey boy that doesn't know a faun from a satyr.

I get out my Potions textbook and sigh. "I saw Joyce in the hallway," I state. Both of them stiffen a bit, but while Tristan tries to keep a forced smile on his face, Cress seems to just get more annoyed.

"And?" she demands.

"I guess you could say we ran into each other--literally." I flip open to my assigned page and pull out some paper and a quill. "She says... something about..."

I stop. Was I really going to spill our whole conversation to these people? It had seemed pretty private. "...she was happy we made up, Cress." Yeah, that's sure believable to sis here.

Cress gives a 'hmph' and leans back in her chair, burying her face in a copy of Transfiguration - Transforming Your Mind. Tristan smiles at me awkwardly for a couple moments.

"Chandler..." he says. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," I reply.

I follow Dopey the Dwarf down a couple rows of books before he turns to me. "Did... did Joyce say anything else?" he asked worriedly.

I stare at him for a couple seconds. This is the perfect time to press my point, I think. "Before I tell you anything, I've got an opinion to state."

"Yeah?"

"I don't like you messing with my sister."

"W-What?"

I sigh. "You've got both Cress and Joyce wrapped around your finger. 1," I hold up a finger, "I don't think you're right for Cress." 

"2," I say, holding up two fingers, "Joyce is madly in love with you but you keep ignoring her, and then you talk to her and ignore Cress, so it's really not certain who you have feelings for." 

"And 3," I tick up the last finger and take a look at Tristan, whose face is flushed red. Not unlike Joyce, I muse. "You're just another dopey, happy-go-lucky sunshine boy whose gonna realize that the world isn't all clovers and smiles, and then you'll drop everyone and not care about the people you care about."

I should know. The unspoken message lingers in the air, and I think Tristan can see it. I can also see him jump to the conclusion that I'm talking about when Cress and I were separated into two houses, but... no. It's farther back than that.

A gleaming purple violet flashes in my mind, but I shake the thought away from my head. To busy myself, I study Tristan, who is slowly turning even more red. Angry, or flustered? It's hard to tell with this pillowhead. He's just so... dumb.

Tristan lets out a low hiss, and I can see him plaster another smile onto his face. Definitely a combination of both. "Noted. Now, tell me what Joyce said."

"She said we both deserved better than Cress, and that she could help one of us."

Tristan's smile shrinks, but turns real, and he claps me on the shoulder. "Heh. Guess we're in the same boat."

"What?" Sorry, but I'd like to think I have more intelligence than a two-headed, fluffy-haired, dopey guinea pig like yourself.

"Joyce likes you, too." He gives me a teasing smile as he walks back to the table to join Cress, who looks like she's already sick of studying.

...What?

My mind flashes to when I was sitting outside of the Great Hall. Joyce... came out to see me...

She thought I didn't have to apologize to Cress...

She mentioned that she would... help me?

I walk out of the library unnoticed. Again.