MPHFPC HIGH SCHOOL AU

4

Next morning, Emma - who even though seemed to drunk to remember anything, apparently knew every detail of yesterday and did not seem ashamed at all, which made me wonder - and I went to Miss Ratten(...). We explained the situation and hoped for a change of partners.

"I'm sorry, but no," she said and started arranging her papers.

"Wait what?!" Emma looked outraged. "His father literary forbid me to go into his house!"

"I'm sorry Emma, but I'm sticking to what I told you yesterday." Yesterday?! So when Emma said 'don't believe everything Enoch tells you' she meant 'a few parts are true but there's one bit where he was wrong'?! I never liked her and yes, I wished we wouldn't be lab partners, but it still hurt that she felt the same about me. I guess some people could say it's karma but it's different. Ever since Ricky and Melina started hanging out, I had no friends. He didn't even text me back last night, but she, she had all the students of the school caring about her. She had friends. "I decided that you'll be partners and it's your duty to deliever a project at the end of every semester and if you don't do so you'll fail. Simply work out your troubles and continue your assignment."

She went back to doing her stuff and Emma and I just stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments. "6 o'clock, my place," she said, turned around and left the room.

Exactly at 6pm I was standing in front of the building that the populars had called home. It was an enormous building - twice as big as my house - built from red bricks. It was higher than the trees surrounding it from the back, so high it was hard to actually see the trees from a different perspective. In front of the house, there was a big 'backyard' with freshly mowed grass and it had sculptures and a fountain. I felt like I was in a fantasy movie and any moment now a centaur will step out of the house, telling me I'm one of them or something like that.

Then I heard something in the bushes and a little girl climbed out. The girl was about 8 years old. She was wearing an old, dirty dress and on top of her golden curls sparkled a big tiara. "Whatcha doing?" she asked me. She had a high-pitched voice and spoke with an Irish accent.

I wanted to say I'm here too meet Emma, but a voice in my mind warned me, that she might be mad at me for ruining her reputation, so I instead I said, "I'm just taking a walk."

"A walk?" the girl asked, suspiciously and gave me an odd look. "So why'd'ya stopped in the middle of the street?"

"Oh.... I was just, you know... Admiring this beautiful house," I gave her a forced smile, but she didn't believe a word I said.

"Who are you?" she asked.

I gulped. Apparently she was good at telling lies, or maybe I was just bad at saying them - either way I saw no point in lying, so I told her my name. "Jacob? Jacob Portman?" I nodded, completely weirded out by the fact she knew my whole name. After the nod, her face brightened up. "Well why didntcha say that earlier, instead of letting me interrogate ya," she said, hitting my back. "I'm Olive by the way. I've been waiting for ya in the bushes for quite some time now!"

"Why exactly may I ask?" She pushed me into the forest and pressed a finger to her lips.

"Shh, quiet down." She looked around to make sure nobody was listening. "Here's the thing: the others told me not to say a word, but in my opinion it's best if you know at least a bit of the story." She started walking down the forest path. "Before I say anything, just know that I'm on Emma's side," she explained.

"Emma's side? Is there a war or something going on here?" I asked, really confused.

"Emma shouldn't talk to you. He forbid her."

"Who? Enoch? That's silly," I said, chuckling.

"No, not Enoch!" Olive looked outraged that I even thought of that. "Enoch's trying to protect her!"

"Who then?"

"Doesn't matter who! What matters is that that person decides Emma's fate. Whether she'll stay here or go back to England. Now that she disobeyed his demands, she's in much trouble. Enoch tried protecting her by keeping you two away from each other, but apparently that didn't go well, because, well, you're here. So I thought you should know, that with being here today you're in much danger. Both of you. You need to be very careful - one mistake can cost you your life you know." By the end of her story - that just made me more confused - we reached the back door. "Today, our mission is, to hide you from Enoch and his spies," she told me and unlocked the door. "Walk down this hall, Emma's waiting in the 17th room on the left."

"Wait," I said when she turned around. "Aren't you going with me?"

"Nope, I need to talk to headmistress," she said and smiled.

"And what should I say if someone sees me?" I ask.

Olive looked confused for a second. "Depends on who that someone is," she said. "But I think it's safer if you say nothing and just... Ya know, run."

"Run?! Where to? What kind of a plan is that?!" I started getting nervous.

"I dunno, I'm not the brain of this house!" Olive made a grumpy face and turned around, but after two steps she looked back to me. "It was nice knowing you, Jacob."