who's to tell me what to do

1.7- cute little laughs

NOTE: long chapter :)
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"Being back here." I say, bringing out the dormant (nonexistent) actor within me, attempting to act as natural as I can. "I'm disappointed it hasn't changed."

"True." The guy says, following me into main room. "There's the renovations happening during the summer holidays, so at least this place will look half as decent as Ivy."

I laugh at his word.

I don't mean to brag but my laugh was utterly angelic. It sounded like little fairy bells tinkling in the west wind — or something fantasy-like, like that.

It sounded hella cute.

And this red-faced person behind me would confirm my thoughts.

"I haven't heard you laugh in ages." He says, his eyes forming a smile along with his lips. "I missed it."

I send him over a little smirk which sends him over the edge.

"Well, seeing as our summer exams are over, and the rest of the school year literally doesn't matter, I might as well make myself smile more." I send him a shit-eating grin.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: 10 points have been deducted. You now have 25 left.

I send him a crazed grin.

『※』

The school itself was like any other.

It was better, since the kids actually allowed the teacher to teach instead of throwing every crude remark they could come up with like the people from my high school when I went there.

To be frank, it was upsettingly normal.

But the quality of learning was really good. I could see why the school had kicked out my mum from this school now.

It wasn't because of the failing business, but because of the high standards that this place set.

Well, I say that but the state of Thistle begs to differ.

It didn't look like it belonged there, in a posh, peppy private school in the heart of England of all places. You know, the country with a monarchy?

I sigh out loud.

"Shut up, Fliss."

"No: you shut up, Jacob. Stop being so rude." I snap back. "You're the one coping my homework, so don't you go acting up now." I pout a little bit for good measure.

After the day ends here, all the students go back to their houses and do any homework or revision they were set to do that day. It was a clever system; it allowed the borders to do something while the day students still benefited from the time. They called it 'Prep'.

I'd survived all my lessons, so now I'm here.

The day wasn't anything exceptional either. Fliss was pretty clever so my previous schooling and knowledge didn't stand out that much. She was naturally loud, which made it a lot easier for me to interact with everyone since they were the ones who approached me. I also found it pretty easy to slip into her shoes and reap all the benefits of holy cow, I'm a cute af girl and everyone adores me.

During a particularly boring English writing task, I had decided that I can put aside my pride as a man away for a while to complete mission 4 if I really must. Gretel promised me that I wouldn't have to do it for long if i completed it just before finishing my main mission, so it wasn't a problem if I left it to last.