I Follow You

Chapter 4 - Crime and Punishment

The next morning, Cris rushed to her Muggle Studies class, since she was late, as always. She knocked on the door and waited for the professor to tell her to enter - "I'm sorry professor Cochrane. I didn't know where the classroom was."

"Don't worry Miss..."

"Soto, Cristina Soto."

"Well, Miss Soto, you can go seat over there, there's an empty place at the back of the classroom."

"Thanks."

When she sat down, she noticed the girl next to her was Joana - "Hey."

"Hola Cristina."

"Oh please, just Cris is okay. I think the only ones calling me Cristina are my parents when mad."

Joana smiled - "Ok, hola Cris."

"Hola. D'you know what we'll be bored about?"

"I think this first class will be about muggle arts. Literature, music and cinema"

"Yeah" - she said, faking enthusiasm.

Before Joana could reply, the professor started to speak - "Well, let's start. I'll give you a sheet for each pair and you'll have to find all the differences and connections between the things written on it".

Mr. Cochrane distributed the sheets with his own hands, without magic - "This is the first step of the project you'll have to work on, then I'll give you other instruction before the end of the class."

Cris watched as Joana leaned on the sheet and crinkled her eyebrows focusing on it, then turned to look at her - "Shall we start?"

The blonde blushed. Fuck I've been caught staring like a creep - "Oh, yes, let's start."

There were sentences, pictures, works of art and short extracts of what the muggles called "movies", but Cris couldn't figure out what exactly the Professor wanted - "I don't understand, what does he want from us? What's all this about?"

"Is there any problem, Miss Soto?" - asked Mr. Cochrane, annoyed by Cris' murmurs.

"No, sir. It's just... I don't think I understood the task."

"Would you care reading something for us out loud, girls?"

Cris chose one of the sentences - the shortest one she could find - and started reading, trying to sound confident - "What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love."

Mr. Cochrane nodded - "Miss Bianchi, care to read another one?"

The raven-haired girl cleared her throat and started to read - "We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken."

"And what are these sentences about?"

"Love" - answered Joana with confidence.

"And what's on that piece of paper?"

"Pictures that don't move and others that move?" - asked Cris.

Joana, next to her, smirked shaking her head. Cris couldn't help but feel annoyed - "I mean... all these sentences and images... They are related to love."

"Yes, Miss Soto. And what else?"

"Well... It's not just people kissing and being happy ever after."

"I think that's a good start to work on."

"But..." - Cris couldn't object anymore, because it was time to go.

"You can go, I expect from you a 2000 words essay about what you see on your sheet, the deadline's in a week."

Joana looked at Cris - "Shall we meet to start working on the project?"

"If you want, next period I'm free."

"Cool. Come with me."

Cris followed Joana through the corridors of the Castle until they got to the lake, under the Great Oak where they had spoken for the first time.

"Hey, what was that about?" - the blonde asked, wondering about that unbearable smirk on the face of Joana when she had answered the Mr.Cochrane's questions.

"What?"

"That smirk."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't want you to think I mocked you. It's just... you clearly underestimated what the things on the paper mean."

"Well, if you're so smart and observant, why don't you tell me what those things are about, know-it-all?"

Joana faced Cris, looking right into her eyes - "That's all about love. But not the typical cheesy love, the one represented in the fairy tales with their happy ending. No... Love is complicated, it often happens between complicated people."

"But what kind of love is that? Love shouldn't hurt".

"No. More often than not, when you love somebody you suffer... You suffer if they ignore you, you are hurt if they're not with you. You suffer when you know you're not good for them and you know you should let it go... In love, you commit the crime, but then you find the punishment itself."

Cris wasn't listening anymore... She was completely lost in the eyes of the mysterious raven-haired girl, with the purple tips and the most piercing eyes she had ever seen.

The thud of something falling in the water interrupted the girls, who were now looking at each other closer and closer.

Joana got up and collected her things - "I'm sorry, I have to go. Won't you care to do some research? I've got most of it covered."

"But we haven't started yet."

"I'm sorry, I forgot I had somewhere else to be. See you in class."

"Bye." - Cris was left there, under the Great Oak, wondering what was the effect that girl had on her.

Yes, I used Joana's words from the sixth clip of the first episode, Las Amistades Peligrosas... It was so inspiring, but I adapted it to the current situation. Hope you liked it.