Lovers: Boarding School

smio_reme

*Mary's voice* So, you've survived the last two rounds and have lived through some of the most intense episodes of this story. Impressive. But could you, dear Reader, unscramble this last title before anyone else to win the coveted final dedication of this book? Let's see you try. Good luck and good bye (◎ω◎*)

*Normal voice* Making you guys work for these dedications is a lot fun but too bad they can only appear for these specific chapters. Le sigh. Maybe I should add more glitchy plot lines in the future...Maybe.

Now onto the story.

With their hands and their hearts firmly entwined, the two young lovers glided languidly around the perimeter of an ovular ice rink that was dimmed by the early breadths of night. Empty, but brimming with the voices of phantom skaters, the rink was drowning in deep blue flood lights as the sky above it twinkled like diamonds indulging in the luminous light of the moon.

"You wanted to be a skater?" the boy with ink black hair and moonshine for eyes asked his lovely world-wandering partner. Compared to their first visit to the skating rink, Gin's balance and grace had marginally improved and he kept up with Viola's effortless skating without ever needing to disrupt their flow--their harmony--to keep himself from falling. They were equals now.

"With an Olympic career and everything," the girl with luscious black silk for hair and star devouring eyes replied. Despite his improvements, the two lovers skated at a relaxed pace, skimming around the rim of the rink like moons and planets fixed in orbit.

The two had been in conversation about Viola's RL life; who her family was, what she did for a living, what hobbies she'd dabbled in--personal trifles interested dates would pry into during the first blind encounter.

And for them, it technically was a first "date" scenario.

"Viola?" Gin said, squeezing her limp hand. Lifting her eyes off the ice, Viola's eyes gravitated to the glimmering grays of Gin's, their power over her still as enchanting as the strongest of potent spirits.

"I was distracted. Sorry," she said, timid that Gin's full attention had been cast on her. Viola the Human had not yet gotten used to Gin calling her by her 'actual' name and she felt obtrusively naked whenever the three-syllable word rolled down his tongue as easily as her old modified name did.

"Does talking about your family bother you that much?" Gin said, his eyes searching her face for any signs of distress. She couldn't help but smile at his concern.

"It used to," she said. "When I was younger."

"Were they that strict?

Viola let out a sigh that untied a knot in her chest. "They were. And I never got along with them because of it. They expected me to be 'perfection' in all matters of life. Have the best grades. Go to the best schools. Get a respected, high paying job. Marry a rich, well-to-do husband."

"I could be that rich, well-to-do husband."

"They wouldn't like you," she said, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips. "Besides, my parents always saw me as a disappointment. I was always second best to my sister and they made it very clear that I was the 'worthless' one when I told them I was becoming an artist."

"Having a career that you're passionate about is something many people aspire to have," Gin said in attempt to comfort her. "Why do they think that's lesser than having a snazzy job you know you'd hate?"

Viola's smile stayed, but it was dripping with bitters. "I wish it was like that in RL," she sighed. "But if you've lived with my family--and my extended family--for as long as I have, the things they constantly criticize you for...they stay with you. Whenever I make an important decision for myself I could almost hear them saying right by my ear, 'that's a useless thing to pursue', 'why can't you be more like your sister?', 'why're you so stupid?', 'so stubborn?', 'so worthless?' I can't fully enjoy life because they're always there in my head criticizing every little thing I do because I don't...I don't want the life they want me to have. I just can't."