A Light in the Dark: The moon

Chapter 4: Big bad evil

The next morning, Etta lay in bed. She wondered what the teachers had decided her punishment would be, and if they'd decided not to adopt Stella after all. It was Friday, the day of the auction. Etta rolled onto her belly, and looked at the desk below the window. The papers of the letter she had neatly stacked one on top of the other were scattered in an untidy pile on the corner of the desk. Someone had read the letter. Shame coursed through her as she thought of all the people who could have read it. If one of the boys had snuck in and read it, they would tell everyone about it. Embarrassed, she looked out the window above it. All she could see was white. It had apparently snowed all night. Etta smiled. She really loved the snow and the cold. She looked at her watch. 6:43. Breakfast was at 7:30. She was not allowed out of the dorm before 7:15, and generally, the students didn't leave the dorm before 7: 25. She sighed, and let herself fall back onto her pillow. After awhile, she slipped out of bed, and picked up her letter. She organized the pages again and hid them under her pillow.

-"Good morning, what are you doing up so early?" Said a sleepy voice behind her.

Etta turned around to see a sleepy looking Maddy, half under her covers, and shielding her eyes from the sun.

-"Oh! I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" Etta asked, in a whisper.

-"No... I was already awake. I usually wake up at this time, but go back to sleep afterwards. What are you doing?"

-"Oh, I'm just... I had some homework to finish, so I thought I'd wake up early to finish it," She lied.

Madison looked at her, suspiciously, then asked,

-"Hey, I didn't see you on the bus on the way back. Where were you?" She asked, and Etta knew there was no escaping her friend's question.

-"I... I did something bad..." Etta said.

-"Etta. You are the least problematic person I know. Your definition of 'something bad' is literally just messing up the arrangement of the pillows in the common room like 'Hoho, I did big bad evil'. It is the furthest thing from a guy peeing in the stairwell and telling me to fuck off when I tell him to stop." Maddy looked oddly serious.

Etta didn't bother question the oddly specific comparison. She chuckled.

-"ok this time it's way worse than just messing up the pillows. I mounted a horse that the guide said was dangerous," said Etta.

-"You-", she had that frozen expression on her face she always did when she was trying not to laugh about something that was supposed to be serious as she sat herself on the edge of her bed. "That was dangerous, you probably shouldn't have done that," but a smile began to play on her face. "I can only imagine Mrs Vermont's expression when someone told her that none other than Margretta had broken the rules." Laughter shon in her eyes.

This made Etta feel better about the events of yesterday, and she smiled, also imagining Mrs Vermont's "not sure what to think" face.

-"Anyway, we should get dressed, it's.... 7:00," said Maddy, looking at her watch.

Margretta busied herself with her own clothes while her friend climbed out of bed and went to a corner to change.
At 7:15, Etta and Maddy left their dorm to find a seat in the cafeteria.

-"They had a meeting last night," said Etta, "About my punishment." She said.

-"Don't worry, I am sure it will be ok." Said Maddy, "it's not like you do this often."

Etta sighed, just as Anne came to join them.

-"I'm not afraid of being punished. The reason for which I am being punished is because I rode that beautiful mare, Stella. I got attached to her, and Hansengrove even said that we might be able to keep her!" Etta said.