Chapter 6 - Guinevere

Like Theo, I've also known Gwen since childhood. Her mother is 'the' Allesandra Evellon, a world renowned Fashion Designer and my mother is one of her clients and biggest fans.

We were in the same daycare, and for a while our family thought about merging our clans. That fizzled out around the time we got to grade school and she's now engaged, though not formally announced yet, with the heir of SLSF Insurance Company Inc. We didn't like each other very much back then so I didn't really care. And she was perfectly happy that it didn't work out for us because she's already completely smitten with Royce. We never exchanged much words apart from polite greetings and nods on family and company events. So her, pulling me back on a private corner was definitely something that doesn't happen often.

"What do you think you're doing Hughes?"

I knew immediately what she came for.

Her friendship with August was a peculiarity within the Academy. If Gwen was the wave, August was the shore. August is order and she pandemonium. She's adorned and flashy and every bit flamboyant, while her friend is always just modest and unpretentious. She talks a lot and all the time, August never talks more than what's necessary. But if there's anything they have in common, it is that they always speak their minds and never mince the truth.

"You keep your filthiness off of her, you hear?" Gwen really decided to come for my throat with her sharp, unforgiving words.

"Whoa, a bit judgmental aren't we?"

She rolled her eyes in revulsion. I could've sworn I saw her brain.

"I know what kind of person you are. You'll fuck anyone with a skirt on."

This should be offending but Gwen lacks that daunting stare August always has. She was more amusing than scary in fact. "Excuse me Evellon, I actually am very picky."

"So what is this? Is August another one of your conquests? Something you need to win to make you feel better about yourself?"

That one, well that burned. Partly because it was true. It's a bragging right to be the one who made the Ice Bitch fall, even if it wasn't real. The other part was how she implied that my self worth lies on the people I date– which was also true.

"I don't answer to you and I don't care how you see it. I like August and if it goes anything beyond that, then that's going to be between us."

Gwen is seething. I can feel the anger oozing out her small frame. She pushed me back against the wall, with force that surprised me given her build.

"Nothing is going beyond anything. You are going to stay away from her."

"I'll let August decide on that."

I pushed past her but before I could round the corner I heard her call. I didn't turn but she said it anyway, "You'll ruin her Hughes. End it before you ruin her."

I should have listened.

August was pushing a book cart along the Reference Section when I found her. She's got her headphones on, fully absorbed. She was restocking the books on their shelves. Such a dire task but she looks more calm and less pressed. With how the afternoon glow from the windows frames her, she looks almost serene. None of the ire and weariness, I almost didn't want to bother her.

"Hey." She didn't hear me. She was completely in the zone that she missed my arrival. I tap her shoulder.

She gasped a tiny, soft breath of a sound and straightened up a little. Removing her headphones she said, "What?" clearly annoyed that I have ruined her tranquility. Like a sudden droplet on a perfectly still pond.

"I came for your final rejection."

That earned me a side eye, "You didn't have to come here. You could've just told your friends."

"I could do that but that's no fun. Also, I wanted to see you."

"Why?"

"Nothing important. I just wanted to."

She stopped and looked at me as if she's reading a case study. "We're pretending. Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Wow. I think you're the one who's getting ahead of yourself."

August sighs deep, "Well, I'm rejecting you now. Done. Go away."

"I want to stay." I said.

Without turning she replied, "If you're staying then make yourself useful."

So I picked up books and started stacking them following her suit.

"What's up with Guinevere?" I asked when the stretching silence became too much to bear.

August picked up a thick English-French dictionary and I tried to help her but she waved off my hand and stacked it herself on a level much too high for her. She was met with difficulty but she wouldn't accept assistance. Cleary, it's not only on dates where she'll reject me.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she just shoved me on a wall and told me to stay away from you."

She laughed, but it was empty. Kind of like she's doing it out of habit. Her focus was still on the book stacking. "So she spoke with you huh."

"How are you two even friends?"

"Why not?"

I was pushing the cart this time and she was letting me. I handed her a book and in a second she found what section it belonged to. I wondered if she had had the entire library memorized.

"I mean, Gwen's so loud and really fancy and you're–"

"–boring? Dull? Stale?" she said, cutting me off.

"A minimalist. What a way to low-blow yourself." I scoffed. "I think you know what I mean."

August left without a word. I thought she just didn't want to answer. I was torn between leaving and waiting. Before I could make a decision though, she returned pushing a library ladder from the succeeding aisle. She climbed the first step and pointed at the books on the lowest level of the cart. It took me a second to realize she was ordering me to hand it to her. These past few days, I realized I've just been doing what she told me too. I handed her the encyclopedias anyway.

It was only when she got down did she answer me, "We've been friends since grade school. My mom was the school's doctor and as part of her compensation, they let me attend there as well,"

–it was Holy Grail Élémentaire, a branch of The Academy of Chevaliers de la Roine. I didn't go there since that was the time I was sent to boarding school. If I did, I could have met August then.

"–I tutored her for a while and she said we were friends and then she never left me alone ever again. We're quite alike in a lot of things. It's just hard to recognize it from the outside I guess." She stopped for a minute. Her face lit up as she said this. Like a kid narrating a fond memory. I can see she's just as attached to Gwen as Gwen is with her.

This was the first true emotion I saw in August. I wondered if their friendship is the same as what I have with Theo. Maybe theirs is even deeper. I am protective of Theo too. But not like how Gwen is with her.

"So," I started, ready to change the subject. I'm here to get to know her, not Gwen. "Why are you working in the library? Do you just like books?"

This time, August laughed for real, whilst mockingly. "I do like books. But have you forgotten the part where I am poor?"

"You said your mom's a doctor?"

"She is. But she does it more for charity. We live in the Lower West and people there don't often have money to pay for her service. They pay her with goods or food or whatever they can grow in their backyards instead."

I knew she wasn't rich, not even well-off. I just didn't know to what extent.

"You are already a Highbrow though."

She laughs again, lighter this time. "Yeah. But that's only for the tuition fee. Not for everything else. Not my food, not my bicycle maintenance, not for any other school activities, and this Academy has a lot. Everything else, I have to work for that."

"Including the reason why you've entered this treacherous deal with me?"

August turned to me, a half smile on her lips, "Yes. Including that one."

It occurred to me that I haven't even asked her what she'll be using the price money for. This could be a good time to find out.

"What do you need that money for anyway?"

"If I tell you, then that means we're friends. And we're not friends Hughes."

"Not yet." I replied.

But August was back with her walls and indifference, a not so subtle sign that the conversation is over.