The Secrets of the Aorta Ruins

Chapter Eighteen

The day before their midterms had finally arrived. The tension that Becca noticed the morning the snow had first fallen had magnified so much. She met Dare in the silent cafeteria, snow still falling silently outside. It now was even with the bottom of the windows, so Becca could only assume it buried the stairs that led up to the castle entrance by now too. As everyone had guessed, Becca was already over the powdered blanket outside. She sat down, and even he was waiting for her to speak first. She looked around at everyone. They looked like a body of zombies, too tired to even search out brains.

"So, Dare, do we have any plans for the break?" she asked breaking the silence in the room at last. A few people looked over, but the majority didn't even notice someone in the room had bothered to speak.

"Oh. Becca...I guess I didn't tell you yet. I head home over the holidays." He said, looking almost guilty.

"Right. No of course. That makes sense," she knew this time he wasn't just messing with her and felt guilty for even asking. It made sense that he would be going home. Most of the student body was, her staying was one of the rare exceptions on campus. The headmistress already warned her she was going to be here almost alone, at her family's request. The headmistress's words were hurtful but not unexpected.

"They aren't even letting you come home for Christmas?" he asked.

"No." she said, not wanting to talk about it anymore. She wasn't surprised Dare still had more questions though.

"What about your brother? Doesn't he even want to see you at least? Did you ask the headmistress if he had a say on it?"

"He did. She was going to work something out for us to have some alone time if he wanted over the break. He said no." By now she was close to crying. They had always been so close, or so Becca had thought. She couldn't help but wonder what their parents had been telling him while she's been away here that he didn't want to see her at all.

"Becca, I'm so sorry. Do you want me to ask my folks if you can come spend some of the break with us?" he offered. It was very kind of him, way nicer than he needed to be. Kinder than Becca even thought she deserved at this point if her own family didn't even want to see her.

"I doubt they'd want me to if my own family doesn't," she said, hoping he didn't notice the one tear that did manage to escape her eye without her permission. She wiped it away quickly, and if Dare had noticed he didn't mention it.

"Ok I've decided, I'm going to ask. I'll let you know tomorrow what they say," he said, sounding hopeful they would let her come for at least a little bit.

"And if they do let me, how will that work with the headmistress? Wait, where do you even live?"

"Let me worry about all that, ok?" he said with a smile, and giving her a warm hug, which was much easier to do while she was sitting down. He quickly left the cafeteria while Becca was sitting there still confused. She watched as he hurried down the hallway already on his cellphone calling someone.

The rest of the day passed as normal, except that Becca was the only one not freaking out about the week long of testing that was about to start the following day. Her mind was busier preparing for the break that would come afterwards and how to keep herself busy during the time off. Usually, she would be the only student worried about schoolwide tests and the rest of the school relaxed. It was a nice change, but Becca still wasn't sure she'd be able to get used to it. Maybe that was just one of the things about this place that made this school special, since she still hadn't learned any magic.

'After the break,' she reminded herself with excitement.

"Was there something you wanted to share with the class...well, me, Rebecca?" the Headmistress asked, interrupting her thoughts. She seemed to be rather annoyed with her. It was almost time for class to be over anyway, so Becca wasn't sure what the big deal was that she allowed her mind to wander for a moment.