AUGUSTINE
"You are putting in too much effort to fool your friends." Georgia giggled as I handed her a glass of Mystic Mead. "They had interpreted that you are my girlfriend when they saw me sharing a dance with you during Newcomers' Nite and I thought why not just let them be fooled?" I clinked my glass against hers.
It was Valentine's Day.
I was sitting at the window sill of the True's common room with Georgia. I had managed to sneak her in.
"Indeed. Going all out to trick your friends into assuming that you are going out with me when in reality we are just best friends." Georgia sipped some Mystic Mead.
"I cannot be spotted alone during Valentine's Day. It will be pathetic." I said with a glint of mischievousness.
"The detriment is that even the girls are presuming that you are a committed guy and hence they will not approach you." Georgia said.
"In my favour, guys would restrain themselves from approaching you either." I prompted.
"Oh oh, Augustine, mind your words or else I might interpret that you really fancy me." Georgia laughed. "Oh, only a heartless statue would be able to refrain themselves from falling for someone like you." I winked.
Both of us were aware that we were just jesting.
We did not mean it.
"My friends thought you were cute." Georgia giggled, sipping her Mystic Mead. "Introduce them to me." I leaned in with a wink.
"Uh-huh, Prince Augustine of Galwyn, the advantage comes from both ends. I told them that you fancy me so much and you had practically begged me to let you court me." Georgia said. "Isn't that a little exaggerating?" I raised a brow.
"It was not exaggerating when you bragged to your friends that I was literally crying in the fear that you might reject me and it was a lie!" She protested.
I let out a chuckle.
This girl never fails to amuse me. Her mere presence is always preeminent.
"Guilty as charg-" I tried to say but my words were interrupted by a loud commotion. A few moments of peace and stillness. Is tat too much to seek?!
I shut my eyelids to make an attempt to calm myself down before flinging them open to take a view of the commotion.
"Where is she if she is not in the dormitory?" Pauline had stormed into the room, tailed behind closely by a vexed Shanon, an apprehensive Sabrina, a worried Scarlette, an anxious Benjamin and Angus who appeared as if he was having the best time of his life.
Shanon strode faster and positioned herself in front of Pauline to block her way.
"She must be at the library!" Shanon moved her hands excessively. It was a habit of hers.
"She is not. I have just returned from the library." Pauline was about to walk past Shanon but she blocked her path again. "It is Valentine's Day! She must be roaming around with Cedric!" Shanon said.
"Indeed, Pauline." Sabrina hesitantly said.
"I know that the day is momentous for couples but I just have to see her for some moments!" Pauline protested.
Angus on the other hand threw back his head, laughing.
"Why is he laughing so much?" Pauline must have noticed it too. "He is having a seizure!" Shanon waved a hand in the air. It did not bother Angus even the slightest. He was holding his stomach, walking away from the swarm up to us.
"What is going on?" I queried curiously.
"It is Valentine's Day." He attempted to suppress his laughter. "I am aware." I responded, perplexed as to why Valentine's Day was so comical to him.
"Aprialla and Cedric are quite… celebrating the day." His laughter was eventually dying out. "In Aprialla's dormitory privately."
"O-oh. Pauline does not know?" I watched Benjamin who was trying to persuade Pauline now.
"Pauline does not know certain sides of her best friend and Aprialla has warned us against disclosing about it to Pauline. You know how innocent and naïve Pauline is. She thinks Aprialla has not even held Cedric's hand yet. She is completely against physical intimacy prior to marriage."
"In conclusion, Aprialla is doomed if Pauline barges into the room and discovers her with Cedric?" I questioned.
"Bingo!"
"Pauline is hopeless." I commented. "She is. Oh, greetings Lady Georgia." Angus must have finally notice Georgia's presence.
She smiled. "How have you been, Prince Angus?"
"Well enough." Angus responded. He then turned to me. "Valentine's Day?"
I nodded.
It was an indication for Angus to go away and us some privacy. He nodded. "I shall leave you two alone then. Enjoy the day. I think I must intervene to help Aprialla out." Saying that, Angus went to join the commotion.
I was blessed that it was Angus. If it was Kristian who had approached us instead of him, he would have refused to leave us alone just to pull my leg.
Speaking of Kristian, he is nowhere to be seen. He must have found a secluded corner with Princess Patricia.
I watched Angus finally managing to persuade Pauline and all of them thankfully exited the common room. I turned to Georgia. She was intently watching the bedlam as well.
The moment the swarm exited the room, she turned to me.
"Your friends are hilarious." She laughed an amused laugh. "They are not my friends, Georgia." I corrected her sternly. "They are just my classmates."
My tone of speaking must have been much stern than I had intended it to be as the conversation had appeared to take an austere turn.
"Also, I will not term them as 'hilarious' but rather as boisterous and grating." I rolled my eyes, sipping some Mystic Mead.
"Do you find me boisterous and grating as well?" Georgia timidly asked. My eyes softened immediately and instinctively. "How could I ever such downgrading terms to describe you?" I flashed a genuine and assuring smile.
"You are my best friend. The only girl that I don't think is vexing at all. But rather you are the most affable and nurturing person in my life. I will-" But I am blessed with such luck that I was interrupted again.
By a shriek this time.
"I WILL END YOUR LIFE KRISTIAN CHALCEDON." I recognised the voice instantly.
Irene.
"What was that?!" The bellow must have startled Georgia.
"Another pandemonium." I sighed.
Not after long, the sight of Kristian darting into the common room with Irene chasing right behind him played in front of my eyes. "HOW DARE YOU-"
'I TOLD YOU IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!" He scurried to the other side of the couch. Irene followed him there. They were now running in circles around the couch.
"I don't care if it was an accident or not GET BACK HERE!!" She was enraged. "It was not my fault that the packaging of yours and my gifts for our partners were identical!" Kristian was avoiding her.
"YOU WERE INTENDING TO GIFT A DAMN CACTUS TO YOUR PARTNER?!" Irene grabbed a pillow, frustrated.
"I was not intending to tell her to dig her hand into the box for the surprise!!" Kristian attempted to explain.
"Prince Felix's hand is now covered with the thorns of cactus!! Just because your dumb brain placed your gift beside mine on the table in the common room this morning and then you inadvertently grabbed mine while yours had a damn cactus plant and mine had a keychain for Prince Felix!!" She yanked the pillow at Kristian.
He managed to dodge it.
"Why did you tell him to dig his hand into the box for the surprise instead of opening the box like a normal person? I am not the sole person to be blamed!" Kristian protested.
Irene scoffed; her annoyance was clearly visible. She grabbed a book that was lying on the couch. "You pathetic stubborn Fopdoodle!!" Irene threw the book at Kristian.
He was successful in dodging it as well.
"Stop throwing stuff at me!!" Kristian was cautiously avoiding Irene as they circled around the couch. "And for goodness' sake what does a Fopdoodle even mean?!"
"A foolish, absurd and self-important person! Just like you Kristian fu- Chalcedon!!" Irene yelled as she threw another book at him.
Kristian scoffed. "You could not word it out like a normal person? And do you think only you have the liberty to throw stuff around, huh?" He tossed a pillow in her direction.
Irene dodged it.
"How dare you?!" Irene looked around and spotted a vase with flowers on the table by the couch.
She immediately snatched it and turned to Kristian with a maniacal expression.
Kristian's eyes widened as he realised Irene's intentions. He held out his hands. "Irene, put that down, it may hurt."
Irene let out a dry chuckle.
"Oh, I intend for it to hurt."
She withdrew the flowers out of the vase and hurled them at Kristian. He did not avoid them. "Irene, don't." He attempted to persuade her, But Irene currently had a murderous glint in her eyes.
The malignant glint in her eyes indicated that it is probably better if Kristian gets hit by the vase. At least he will survive if it does not hit his head.
Irene launched the vase at Kristian.
But Kristian ducked. So, it flew over his head and was darting towards us. Panic rose within me. I abruptly grabbed Georgia and made us both duck down to avoid being hit by the vase.
It would have certainly hit Georgia if she had not ducked.
The vase soared over our heads and zoomed out of the window.
"Are you insane?! It could have hit us!!" I leapt to my feet.
Irene snapped her head to our direction. No hint of guilt or remorse was visible on her face. "It did not hit you, did it?"
"It could have!" I retorted. "Would you have taken responsibility if it had hit any of us?" I gestured to myself and Georgia.
Irene's empty eyes travelled from me to Georgia.
"She is a Pretentious, isn't she?" Her indifferent eyes were fixed on Georgia. I stepped in front of Georgia to keep her out of Irene's sight. "Why does it matter if she is?!"
Irene's eyes shifted back to me.
She was silent for a few seconds. "Then, she deserves to die." She nonchalantly said. "Learn to watch your mouth, Irene!" I argued back vociferously. She has always been arrogant and cruel towards people who are not born in nobility. It is high time someone taught her some manners.
I am usually quite composed and prefer to keep myself out of such drama and tussles but the urge to stand up for Georgia snapped all my patience at once.
Irene scoffed.
"Watch my mouth?" Irene laughed derisively. "What? Did I say something wrong? These pathetic Pretentious are like pests in the school. The school was meant for royals. It is literally called Wisteria Royal Academy. These Pretentious have just infiltered the school making it lose its prominence. These people are like leeches that-"
I cut her words.
"Irene, stop while I am being nice." I said through gritted teeth.
"Or else?" Irene sneered. "Did I just get onto the nerves of the stoic Prince Augustine just because I could have potentially hit his sweet little Pretentious girlfriend?"
I opened my mouth to say something but Irene spoke ahead. "I would have loved to stay and teach her where her place is. But you see, because of your little act that Chalcedon's scumbag had found his cue to escape and I intend on making him pay. Be careful, Pretentious." She said to Georgia and stormed out of the common room probably to trace down Kristian.
I stared at her fading figure with wrathful eyes,
The students that were in the common room had stopped their own activities to watch Irene and Kristian's brawl.
Now since it was over, they turned back to their own tasks.
I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. I inhaled a deep breath to calm myself down before turning to Georgia with an apologetic smile.
But Georgia was crying.
"H-hey!" I settled beside her worriedly. "Why are you crying?! Don't cry. What are you crying for? Irene's words? She is just a conceited know-it-all who presumes she is over everyone else. She even treats the royals like that? She talks to everyone like that. I would not be surprised if she even treats her family like this. I don't know why Kristian even dated her-"
"She is right."
"W-what?"
"She is right. I am not royalty. I should not be attending a royal academy or making friends with princes like you. I do not belong here-" Georgia was speaking between light sobs.
"All I know is that you deserve this place as much as that grandiose know-it-all does. Actually, you deserve it more than her." I tried to console her.
I pulled out a handkerchief from my pocket.
"Now, wipe your tears. I don't want to see you shedding your precious tears over that egoistic narcissist." I said as she received my handkerchief. "Besides, if anyone walks in and sees you like this, they might misinterpret that I made my girlfriend tear up on Valentine's Day."
"Best friend." Georgia let out a laugh as she corrected me while wiping her tears.
"Still, people presume you are my girlfriend." I grinned, genuinely feeling elated to make her smile.