marvelling at Violet with bright green eyes. ‘And her skin is so pale.’
‘That’s totally in right now,’ another girl said, almost sagely. ‘I’m not getting another tan.’
‘I wish my hair was that blonde,’ lamented a third girl, whose hair was far more golden than Violet’s.
They all looked upon her adoringly, yet Violet could not be taken in by their kindness when she remembered they would turn on her one day. She couldn’t even be sure when.
‘Thank you,’ she mumbled, blushing profusely.
They bombarded Violet with questions, Rachel stopping them as they went into a classroom together.
The rooms were filled with single desks and there were no inkwells or chalkboards. Jacqueline had bought Violet pretty pens and notebooks and she’d practiced writing in one of them. She sat at the front next to Rachel, who introduced her to everyone coming in. Violet’s blush was growing redder, and it got even worse when the teacher arrived and asked for her name. She was stammering now and everyone simply found it adorable.
To have been hated by her village was almost preferable to being loved by a room full of strangers.
Rachel escorted Violet to her classes, even sitting beside her and presenting her to people as if she’d known Violet all her life. This had Violet desperate to run away and find Nate.
Violet met with him when the students gathered for lunch, Rachel finally letting him take her aside so they could be alone.
‘It’s been so awful, Nate,’ Violet complained. ‘Everyone stares but they’re all so nice and I do not wish to be mean in return.’
‘That’s worse than being hated. And I should’ve said you were raised in a cult since you can’t use a phone all that well and have no idea what people are talking about sometimes. I’m sorry, I never should’ve brought you here. You’d have been safer at home.’
Violet took his hands. ‘I know it’s not your fault, Nathaniel… Sorry… Nate.’
He gave her a smile. ‘You’re coping a lot better than I expected.’
‘My life before I died was much worse than this in so many ways, but I miss the simplicity I knew then.’
‘I can understand that, Violet. You’ve done nothing wrong, so it’s not fair you’re in this situation now.’
They were interrupted by Rachel and the other boy from the woods. ‘Violet, this is my boyfriend, Joel.’
Joel gave her the same stare everyone else was giving her. ‘Hi, Violet. It’s so nice to meet you.’
Nate was bothered by Joel’s attention. ‘Our parents are friends,’ he said, somewhat clipped. ‘She moved here the other week.’
‘Isn’t she lovely?’ Rachel gushed. ‘I told you so, didn’t I?’
Joel’s eyes passed over Violet again, and while his gaze wasn’t coveting, it still had Violet fidgeting slightly. ‘You were right.’
Nate was doing a terrible job of hiding his frustration. ‘Rachel, why aren’t you punching Joel right now?’
‘Oh, I’m not jealous of Violet. Not like that anyway.’
Violet allowed Nate to guide her away from them. ‘We have to go. We’ll see you later.’ Farther away from the others, Nate grumbled, ‘I wish we could get out of here.’
‘This spell won’t last,’ she said to him. ‘I don’t know when it will happen, but they will change. They won’t be this kind forever.’
‘Good. It’ll be nice to be around normal people again.’
Now Violet couldn’t tell him the absolute truth. She didn’t want to burden him with yet another concern.
Because her first day was so harrowing, Violet quickly grew reluctant about going to school. Even when it was clear she wasn’t writing as confidently as the other students, the teachers just accepted her shortcomings. Had she been this inept in the past, a cane would have struck her knuckles every time she made a mistake.
Nate patiently helped her with her homework, never once growing frustrated with her. But his affections weren’t as obvious as everyone else’s and this dismayed Violet more than anything.
Her next day at school was even more exhausting.
‘Do you like any boys here yet, Violet?’ asked Stacey Mitchell, the bright, bubbly blonde who’d been jealous of Violet’s hair.
She was changing into her clothes after showering with the other girls. They’d all been forced to run laps that morning for gym class and she already loathed this ritual of bathing with her peers. Her fingers were fumbling with the cursed clasp of her bra.
‘C’mon, she obviously likes Nate,’ Rachel said as she laughed.
‘He doesn’t seem to think the same of me,’ Violet said shyly.
‘How can he not!’ Izzy Saunders said in her unbearably shrill voice. She’d been the one to affirm Violet’s skin was acceptably milky. ‘He was holding your hand the other day. How dare he pretend he doesn’t love you!’
‘The boy is fickle,’ Rachel said with authority. ‘Plus Fiona only dumped him the other week.’
Violet finished dressing, straightening out her long skirt and keeping her eyes off the other girls as they pulled brushes through their hair and reapplied their lipgloss. Modesty was still important to Violet, yet having Nate see her without clothes felt different. She had nothing to hide from him in every sense.
‘You should ask him, Violet,’ Izzy went on.
‘It’s not proper to ask such things of a boy,’ Violet replied.
‘Oh my god, would you listen to her!’ Stacey laughed. ‘She’s so adorable. Not proper? Ha!’
‘It was how I was raised.’
‘Stupid Catholic schools making girls needlessly feel like sluts if they like a boy.’ Rachel was inordinately grouchy about this.
Stacey took out another lipgloss from her bag and brought it up to Violet’s face as she approached.
‘Just let me put a touch on your lips,’ she said.
‘We should do her hair too,’ Izzy added, picking up Violet’s brush.
The girls fussed over Violet, pulling at her hair and tilting her chin to inspect her face. She was shrinking from them crowding around her. Finally, Rachel undid the top two buttons of her blouse, and though Violet didn’t stop her, she preferred to have it buttoned to her neck.
‘It’s a start…’ Stacey said when they all stepped back.
Izzy frowned. ‘If I had my halter top, I’d give it to you. See how many boys start fighting over you then!’
Violet blushed. ‘I don’t want to cause a fight.’
Stacey smiled at Violet as she sighed. ‘Sweetie, sometimes that’s the only way to get a boy’s attention.’
Violet had trouble keeping her head up as she walked with the other girls through the halls. Again, people were staring at her and making her positively scarlet. Her less than subtle transformation did not go unnoticed by Nate when she met with him later.
‘You’re wearing lipgloss now?’ He sounded confused.
‘Stacey made me wear it.’ She took out a tissue and wiped her lips harshly. ‘I knew you’d not like it.’
‘No, I didn’t mean it that way. I’m sorry… You look really pretty.’
‘I know it’s wrong of me to do it. It’s vain and I shouldn’t.’
‘Violet, no one’s going to punish you now for wearing lipgloss. As long as your happy, I don’t mind.’
She was too shy then to ask him how he felt. It was never going to feel right to her. She’d waited patiently for Samuel to speak to her, not once approaching to ask him if he was fond of her. Violet was aware Nate wouldn’t be asking for her hand in marriage, she didn't expect him to at all. She only wanted him to think of her as fondly as Samuel had.
‘Nate’s always kept his feelings to himself,’ Jacqueline told Violet later that evening. ‘He’s terribly shy himself. Certainly more than you are, Violet.’
‘I understand.’
Jacqueline gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Oh, sweetpea. Don’t fret. He’ll come around in his own time.’
Nate was upstairs in his
room while Jacqueline was with Violet in the kitchen. Violet liked to help around the house as she had done for her own mother. It was important to her she earned her keep in this house, even after Nate insisted it wasn’t expected of her.
‘I’m not sure what he wishes of me,’ Violet said.
Jacqueline shook her head, utterly bemused. ‘You are a strange girl. You don’t have to cook and sew these days to get a man, sweetheart. Things are different now. I know having a strict Catholic upbringing has made you think a certain way, but honestly, Nate will respect you more if you’re your own person. He does like you, I can tell as much. Why don’t you go tell him dinner’s nearly ready? And later I can wash your hair if you like.’
‘No, that’s fine.’ Jacqueline’s obsession with tending to her hair had Violet troubled now.
She went upstairs, knocking gently on Nate’s door before entering. Nate glanced up at her from his laptop.
‘What’s wrong, Violet?’
‘Your mother said dinner is almost ready.’
‘Doesn’t explain you looking so miserable,’ he said as he stood. ‘Did you need to tell me something?’
Violet paused then shook her head. ‘It doesn't matter.’ She left Nate alone, heading back downstairs with a heavy heart.