CHAPTER XVI – CAPTAIN IN DISTRESS
One day in spring, Lily received a letter from Orange. It read as follows: "Dear Lily, I know you promised to write every Sunday night and post first time every Monday morning, but perhaps you are too busy to do that. I know that because of your long absence, now you have a lot to catch up with. I really hope you ARE catching up. I'm writing to let you know that I have moved in with aunt Leonora and uncle Elijah. It happened around two weeks after your departure. Of course, I was too busy, too, having to transfer to another school so late in the school year, and that's why I haven't told you. I received your letter, telling me you weren't coming back for the spring holidays. They re-send all the post we receive to aunt and uncle's address. Of course, I received it a week later, so I had already gone back to our house. Because the letter had already been resent, I didn't have any idea why you weren't coming. There was a bit of confusion, but it's alright now. Thanks for letting me know, anyway. Wishing you all success. Your sister: Orange."
Lily sat down in an armchair in her House lounge and closed her eyes. She could almost feel the earth turn. Only, in her head, it was spinning uncontrolled and it was sickening. She thought her heart was breaking. In fact, it was Orange's heart that was breaking. Lily stayed like that for a long time, until it grew dark outside and other students came and went, some trying to speak to her, others just looking at her solitary despair and not wishing to disturb her. The holidays were over and it was a normal school day. She was supposed to spend the afternoon in the library, studying. Instead she had spent it on the armchair, holding Orange's letter tight. A dark wave of sadness surged in her breast and she felt something gripped at her throat. Lily could not speak. Not that she particularly wanted to, anyway.
That evening there was no football practice, so after dinner Lily wanted to go straight back to her dormitory and try and write a letter to Orange. She could not think of what to say. She was dismayed and ashamed at the same time. Mark approached her in the dining room.
"Is everything OK?" he asked, seeing she was so sullen.
"Well, to be honest, not quite." Lily told him in short about Orange's letter. Mark blushed. "Lily, I had no idea I was doing this. You could have refused to stay, or ... well, now it's too late to consider possibilities." Mark remained uncertain what to say or do for a while and then he asked, "Is there anything you want me to do? I could leave you alone to write your sister a letter. We will be together some other evening." That last sentence stung Lily deep and bitter.
"Mark, I..." she stammered.
"It's OK. If you write the letter soon, you may come to listen to me. I'll be in music practice. You know – it's Tuesday." And each Tuesday the school choir had their session. Those session were much more populated since Lily had befriended Mark Hopfler. Professor Timoteo was so happy, that she invited Lily to sing there. Although greatly flattered, Lily had to turn this proposition down, for fear she will not be able to handle all. Football still remained Lily's greatest passion.
"OK, Mark. That's exactly what I'll do. Hopefully, I will be able to make a nice apologizing letter to Orange. I feel I piled plenty of sins towards her, you know. I feel embarrassed. She is younger and I'm supposed to take care of her, now that our parents are not around."
"Are not around," repeated Mark in a strange voice. "It's really a weird way to say that. I think somebody has to take care of you, too, Lily." With these words he hugged her and she felt warm and comfortable. "Mark, you are wonderful. Unfortunately, you are leaving this year." Lily felt that stupid lump get stuck in her throat again. Mark sighed, "You'll find somebody else next year, don't worry." and then he pinched Lily to show her it was a joke. She laughed and said, "Be careful, choir-boy, for I just may."
Back in the lounge of her house, Lily sat down comfortably and composed a neat letter to Orange. She was not sure how much to say, whether to put specific things in it, or not, and so the letter became rather distant again. She read it and was terrified. It read like a memo from the boss to his personal assistant. She tore it and started anew. In two hours, Lily had not succeeded in composing the perfect soothing letter to her sister yet. She was on the verge of despair. Then, Violet Absurmia walked in the lounge. Lily only saw her, because she had raised her head in earnest attempt to doctor her letter style into niceness and affection. Meeting Lily's eyes, Violet stopped short and nodded in acknowledgment that she had noticed Lily. Lily did not know what to do, so she nodded back. Obviously, Violet interpreted that as a sign to come and sit on a stool next to Lily. So she did. Only then Lily noticed that Violet had a nylon bag in her hand. She put the bag on the table in front of them and said, "Would you like me to bring the glasses, or you prefer to do some exercise and go to our living room?" Lily could not grasp the situation as of yet. She looked at Violet, at the bag and then at Violet again.
"What glasses?" asked she eventually.
"To pour the champagne." said Violet nonchalantly and pulled the nylon bag down to show a sweaty bottle of the best sparkling wine produced in the country. "Have you forgotten, Lily? That's my family label." and she raised eyebrows in a playful manner.
Lily was still baffled. "Violet, I don't know where to start from, but are you OK? I mean, you look OK, but is everything fine?"
Violet said, "I'll bring the glasses. You open the bottle." and she put an opener on the table, stood up and rushed towards their dormitory.
Lily shrugged, took the opener and opened the bottle of wine. It was not an easy task. The stopper shot out with a mighty crack and several other students turned to see what was going on. Quite smartly, Lily had pulled the bag back up to conceal the bottle and pretended to have made the sound by hands. She clapped a couple of times and Violet was back.
"What, Lemonpie, are you practicing Kinetics with people already?" laughed the students. Lily and Violet laughed, too.
"Yeah, be careful over there, for I might just move you, too."
Violet waited for the others to turn round and start talking again, then poured.
"So," said she, tilting her glass to and fro and looking at the bubbly liquid inside sway. "Lily, forgive me. Make me do whatever you like, make me say whatever you want. Please, just forgive me. Let's make up, Lily. I can't live like that any longer."
Lily looked in total stupor. Violet smiled, "Don't forget to breathe." So, Lily breathed in and out, thinking. Then, she said, "Violet, what happened? Did Buster leave you?"
"He did. He is with Padrina now." Violet said and looked down. "Not a very recommendable time to try and make up with you, right?"
"Right. How long has it been like that?" asked Lily, aware that maybe Violet had managed to keep her secret for a while.
"Since after the Easter holidays. When I came back from the holidays, he was already with Padrina."
"Oh, this kind of behaviour reminds me of something. Wait, what was it? I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Lily imitated hard thinking. She just could not help it. Violet smiled embarrassed.
"You are right to mock at me, I know." said she in reconciliation.
"Oh, come on, don't do this! You're killing my pleasure. I want to have some sort of revenge on you." Lily said in disappointment. Violet nodded, "I see."
Suddenly thinking of something, Lily asked, "How do you know he wasn't with Padrina before you knew it? They are always together." By the way Violet stared, Lily knew she did not know. And how could she? Buster and Padrina were in the same House, they shared a lounge, they could visit each other's rooms. Of course, that last thing was strictly forbidden and there were alarms on each entrance that were activated by unauthorized entry, yet such thing were known to have happened, albeit rarely. Lily sighed, "Violet, I believe we are both stupid ducks. Maybe Buster and Padrina have been together all along. I mean, how would I know they weren't while he was my boyfriend? Maybe it's just some sick game of theirs. Who knows?"
Violet frowned in disbelief, "Do you think so? But he was so..."
"Sincere? Hot? Dedicated?" suggested Lily.
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"Yes. All." confirmed Violet.
"I don't know. That's normal for a boyfriend, I suppose. He must have liked us, anyway. Buster is no masochist. Yet, I don't know."
"Maybe all the time he actually wanted Padrina." suggested Violet.
"But weren't they together last year?" Lily tried to remember.
"I don't know. I hardly noticed him then." said Violet quietly.
"Oh, yes, that's right!" exclaimed Lily, "You were in love with Carl then."
"Just like you, in fact." Violet had begun to come back to herself.
"Well, it seems we share the brothers." laughed Lily, "I say, let's drink to it."
"Let's do it. To friendly sharing!" toasted Violet and the two drank their glasses.
"Oh, my goodness!" said Lily with misty eyes, when she put the empty glass down. "I had completely forgotten this divine taste."
"Spoken like a true champagne fan!" laughed Violet.
By and by, the girls had finished their second glasses and suddenly Lily said, "Oh, I completely forgot. Violet, you have to help me."
"OK. With what?"
"I'm writing a nice letter to Orange." said Lily.
"A NICE letter? Do you normally write ugly letters to her?"
"I normally write nothing. And I promised to write. Then I didn't. And today I received this." and she gave Orange's letter to Violet to read.
"Oh my!" said Violet. "She is really hurt. Do you want me to try and make up something to her? Then you'll read it and if you approve, you'll copy it in your handwriting."
"You'll do that?" asked Lily suspiciously.
"Of course, I will. I told you not an hour ago that I'll do anything you want me to, just to be able to make up with you."
So, Violet took to writing. She wrote fast and in a confident manner that surprised Lily.
All of a sudden, Violet looked up and said, "Stop it, Lily. Have you forgotten what I do?"
"Oh," said Lily remembering what her friend had in mind. "So, that's how you know what to put in the letter."
"Yes, I can see you in your mind." Violet went to writing once again.
"Wait. If that is so, how come you didn't see in Buster's mind?" asked Lily.
"I've thought about that. I expect his whatever it is that we would call 'mind', is protected by some spell." Violet said that without raising her head or pausing. "I spoke to Veronica about that. She confirmed."
In less than twenty minutes Violet had finished Lily's letter to her sister. Not surprisingly, Lily approved of it and immediately started to copy it. It had a couple of paragraphs that dealt with Mark and were too intimate, so she decided to leave them out, but the general thing was perfect. Perhaps because of the wine, she made a lot of mistakes and scratched several words, so she had to start over again. Then, she got very sleepy and decided to leave the letter till morning. Violet agreed, seeing the mess Lily was making with the pen. She stopped the bottle again and said, "We'll have some for tomorrow. Anyway, a whole bottle will be too much for us."
Lily was ready to fall asleep in the armchair, but Violet pulled at her arm to help her up. In front of their bedroom doors, the two had to separate, because they did not share the same bedroom anymore. Lily felt very sad for that, although she had a vague feeling that it was merely the champagne talking.
On Wednesday morning Lily hated her life. She woke up with great efforts. Simona had to push and pull her, to take her blanket off of her and almost roll her onto the floor in order to make Lily get up. Erin appeared at the door and said it was the same with Violet. Apparently, even two glasses of champagne were too much for 16-year-olds. When she finally was able to get into her clothes and Simona literally carried her to the bathroom, Lily got a heavy headache which made her wish to be already dead. Breakfast was gruesome, for she completely lacked in any manners. She was hungry like a wolf even though she did not know that was the champagne's doing. The whole morning till the lunch break Lily wished to go back to bed, or just die on the spot. Unlucky for her, Professor Suthern had classes with them and it was quite clear to him what had happened.
"Miss Lemonpie," he said, in a cold tone. "I'm sure there will be many disappointed people. So, for your sake, I hope this particular type of behaviour will not be repeated."
The class of students all turned to Lily to see what their teacher had in mind. They were not sure what they saw.
During the lunch break Lily thought of the letter she was trying to write to Orange. Where was the draft Violet had composed? She could not remember taking it from the lounge table. She could remember taking the bottle, though. Lily saw Mark wave from over the Flowers' tables and waved back with a forced smile. Then, she sat down next to Violet who did not look much better than herself, and asked, "Violet, what did we do with the draft of my letter? Did you take it from the table last night?"
Violet's confused look had Lily freeze with horror. Next, she heard Padrina's voice, saying in neat declamatory tone, "My dearest, sweetest, baby-sis Orange..." and she read the whole draft aloud. Lily felt she was going to be sick in front of everybody. So, she stood up and walked towards the door. Padrina followed her with eyes and body turning to face her all the way out, reading on. At the door, Lily bumped into Professor Baramova who was on her way to check in namely on her, having heard Professor Suthern's report of his morning classes. Seeing the professor, Lily felt much better, even though the professor's face did not express especial love of her. Baramova caught Lily by the arm and brought her back into the dining room where Padrina was almost at the end. Lily saw Mark and desperately thought how hurt he must be. Contrary to her expectations, though, Mark was bright with excitement and looked around proudly. What was wrong, thought Lily. Then she realized. Mark had always had low self-esteem and those intimate details from Lily's letter, naturally drew attention to him and other students began to see him as a lover-boy. Strangely, Lily did not feel too ashamed herself because of the shared "nude" details. She was afraid that if she showed embarrassment, the others would eat her alive. After all, she was the captain of the football team and needed to be assertive. Besides, those intimate moments were witnessed by other intimate couples in the mineral pool, so no one would dare say a word, for fear they might get exposed, too. "Ha," Lily thought, "that's a pretty comfortable way of thinking."
The entire dining room was in awe. Lily looked at Violet and hissed, "Did you need to be so comprehensive?" Violet just grinned, "I didn't know it would come out."
Professor Baramova made a gesture towards Padrina requesting the draft. Padrina had no option but to hand it over. Professor Baramova folded it, put it in her pocket and said, "Aren't you too slow having lunch? Your afternoon classes are about to begin." Then she turned to Lily and said, "Miss Lemonpie, come to my office. Now, please." And she left. Lily was at the door, her hand outstretched towards the professor, her mouth open as if about to ask for the letter. Professor Baramova was gone. Lily snapped her mouth shut. She stood by the door while the whole school walked by her, each and every one of the students looking at her in amazement. Sure, some looked differently, yet most envied. Some envied Mark, others envied Lily.
Lily went to Professor Baramova's office in great apprehension that something horrible will happen. After all, the letter was too spicy, she had already been reported to have hangover and that was enough for punishment. Moreover, she had not sent Orange the letter. Besides that, she had not spent the evening around Mark.
"Come in and sit down, Lily," said Professor Baramova. Lily went to the chair in front of the professor's desk.
"You know why you are here, I guess." started the professor.
"I suppose so," said Lily. She felt like telling the professor that it was all a large misunderstanding and she was not like that at all; that it was simply a matter of wrongly-combined circumstances. Professor Baramova could see that and interrupted her with a gesture. "Before you speak, I would like to say something." She made a pause. "You are one of our most impressive students. You a
re a star in the football team, which was reflected in the captain's elections in the beginning of the school year. You are outstanding in Kinetics, we take Professor Magpie's word for that. The Headmaster cherishes you dearly and wants to do anything in his power to soften the pain you are in after your parents' death. Even Professor Suthern, in whose class you do not excel particularly, gives positive comments for your endevours and the earnest efforts in his subject." Here, the professor paused again to see what effect her words had on Lily. We may honestly say that their effect was devastating. Lily felt like a worm that did not deserve all that kind thoughts and treatment at all. Then, the professor continued, "Right now, you are about to ruin all you have worked for."
Lily wanted to interrupt her; she wanted to shout that it was not like her, that it was just an accident and couldn't they forgive an accident to somebody with all those excellent qualities that the professor had enumerated as hers. But she just was not able to. She checked herself, and even though the professor was looking at her with expectation in her eyes, to hear what Lily had to say, the girl felt too embarrassed, because she had not learned how to beg for forgiveness and, in addition to that, she felt a punishment would be really deserved.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" asked Professor Baramova. "Anything in your defense?"
"How could I? How would I?" said Lily, her head bowed.
Professor Baramova sighed and gave her the draft back. "You had better finish rewriting this and send it to your sister." Lily took the paper from her.
"Oh," added the professor, "and you don't need to worry about the 'hot' details Padrina read aloud. She made them up. This letter does not contain such things. Which is why, Padrina Perkins is the next person who shall visit my office and perhaps the Headmaster's office, too. Please, on your way to your afternoon classes, find the third-years, I think they have classes with Professor Jubesc now, and tell Miss Perkins to come here."
Lily stood up and walked towards the door still unsure if she would be punished in any way, or not. Professor Baramova saw her hesitation and said, "Is there anything else?"
Lily answered, "Exactly: is there?"
"Oh, you mean any kind of punishment, something like that, do you?" asked the teacher.
"Exactly."
"Don't worry. It's your very first time. If you don't make it your habit to drink alcohol, we will not prosecute you." said the professor and laughed when she saw Lily's eyes get huge at the word "prosecute". "Don't worry. Go now."
Before the end of the day the whole school had heard about Padrina's foul play and her conversation with Professor Baramova. Since it was her first offence, too, she did not receive any punishment. Veronica was not happy about it, for she knew Padrina loved foul play and had used it at least once, in the beginning of the school year. Yet, she never told any of the teachers about it, so there was no way to prove that now. Veronica had spared Padrina because of her natural adversity of betrayal. Now, however, she really regretted her loyalty and felt deceived. Lily was indifferent to what had happened to Padrina since she felt guilty herself, so she just shrugged the lack of true justice. She remembered the day when Buster had joined her to the Headmaster's office on the issue of access to the mineral pool. Even though she was a fighter for justice and it was officially refused to her (that was how she saw things), later on she still managed to get illegal access to the bath. That was injustice, but she, as staunch champion of justice as she promoted herself to be, did not hesitate to take advantage of it. Of course, that access to the mineral bath was only during the holidays, yet it was still against the rules which did not change. With those severe bites of consciousness, Lily had no courage to say anything at all.
"Veronica, find somebody else for that fight. I'm sorry. I'm in trouble myself." said Lily.
Germina looked at her and smiled, "Come on, captain! Don't lose it now! The whole school is in love with you."
"Or just the opposite," frowned Lily.
"Could be. But that's still very good. Loving you, or envying you, or even hating you is still good for your reputation. They all want to be like you, around you." said Germina.
Lily considered for a moment. Germina could be right. One will never be loved by all, so the fact that she was not, perhaps, everybody's favorite was not so significant. The important thing was that she was popular and other students had strong attitudes towards her.
"Oh," she said, "what's more, I will always know who really likes me and who doesn't."
Germina smiled, "You see? Now you are getting it."
Veronica was standing next to them, wondering what to say. Apparently, she did not approve of that attitude, yet those were her friends and she could easily forgive them small moments of sick enthusiasm. History knew plenty of such examples. She bit her lips in wondering how to react, but then smiled and nodded, "OK. You are great. Yes, you two. You made my day." winked at the two second-years and left.
"Do you think she got offended?" asked Lily.
"No, I think not. She is cool. And she likes us very much." said Germina.
"From time to time it seems to me Veronica is already old." said Lily.
"You know, I have the same feeling. She is so mature and calm. As if nothing bothers her and she has the answers." agreed Germina.
"Not like you, for instance, who always asks billiards of questions." giggled Lily and pinched Germina's arm. Germina just shook her head and said, "Oh, please."