The walls of the dormitories in Rutherford Academy perfectly represented the school as a whole: cold, bare, lifeless. Annabelle felt that the same words could be used to describe herself since she'd arrived there two months before. She had begged and pleaded with Senator Tillman to let her drop the charges against Simone. That went about as well as expected. Annabelle still remembered the conversation verbatim…
"I just don't know what to do with you anymore, Annabelle," Senator Tillman yelled throwing her hands up in exasperation.
"Do whatever you want with me, but do not take this out on Simone! It wasn't even her idea," Annabelle pleaded.
"That, I can believe," said Senator Tillman.
"Please, I love her," Annabelle replied.
"You should have thought about that before you cost her her job and her freedom. And that's beside the point. She had authority and she abused it! There are laws and she broke them. She needs to do her time for it," Senator Tillman spat.
"I was willing! She didn't force me to do anything! Please just let me drop the charges!" Annabelle cried.
"Be ready to go to Rutherford at 5 AM sharp," said Senator Tillman coldly before leaving Annabelle's room.
The abrupt knock on the door brought Annabelle back to the present. She rose from her bed to open the door. There was, to her displeasure, a military officer accompanying her mother and Senator Tillman's assistant Craig. Unfortunately, Annabelle could only go to Collins' funeral if her mother came with her.
"Are you ready?" asked Senator Tillman.
Annabelle only nodded. The officer escorted Annabelle, Senator Tillman, and Craig outside to Senator Tillman's limo.
"Miss Tillman is to be back here at no later than 17:00, "said the officer sternly.
"Understood, sir," said Craig.
That was barely any time at all considering it was noon and the drive to the church holding the funeral was two hours, but Annabelle didn't dare say anything about it. Silence was not easy for her, but as of late, she had become its prisoner. She even kept her mouth shut when the driver was going ridiculously slow even though he had been fully informed of how pressed they were for time. Annabelle, Senator Tillman, and Craig were the last ones to arrive before the funeral started. Annabelle took the vacant seat beside Kristin thankful that Senator Tillman and Craig had to sit on the very back row out of earshot.
"Collins would be glad you made it," Kristin attempted to whisper.
"Yeah, I had to practically beg to get to come here. I see Kat had the good sense not to show up," Annabelle said, gritting her teeth as she mentioned Kat.
"After what she did to you and Ms. Bradly…just about everyone dropped her," Kristin replied.
Annabelle simply nodded her head in response since she saw the priest walking up to the pulpit. In front of it, there was a table covered in a white cloth that was adorned with pictures of Collins at every stage of her life. In the middle, there was a silver urn. Annabelle couldn't help but think how it must feel for Collins' parents to not be able to give their daughter a proper, Christian burial. She recognized the priest from their school but couldn't quite remember his name. He droned on for several minutes about things that had nothing to do with Collins or her life.
After the funeral, Senator Tillman was met with enough fanfare from a majority of the people there, especially Kristin, who had to practically tear herself away to talk to Annabelle.
"Doesn't anyone in this place have a goddamned cigarette?" Annabelle complained.
A nearby splotchy faced boy who looked like the male version of Collins produced a pack, which he held out with a shaky hand.
"That's Garret. He and Collins were twins," said Kristin.
"Thanks…I'm sorry about your sister. I knew her from school," Annabelle mumbled taking the pack and helping herself.
"She used to talk about you some. Annabelle, right?" asked Garret hollowly.
"Yeah, that's me. She was always really sweet," said Annabelle
"That…was Collins. She had nothing but love for every living thing…she didn't take you and that teacher leaving very well," said Garret.
"Neither did I," said Annabelle more shortly than intended.
Kristin gave her a disapproving glance and steered her away from Garret.
"I didn't mean to-"
"I know you didn't…so do you still talk to her?" asked Kristin carefully.
"Simone? I found a way to send her a letter to tell her about Collins. I'm not sure when she'll get it or if she even will," Annabelle replied.
"I'm sure she will if she can. You didn't drop the charges?" Kristin asked.
"I wanted to, I swear!" Annabelle blurted, "But my mom wouldn't let me no matter how hard I pleaded. I really hope she doesn't hate me now," Annabelle finished more quietly.
"You know, no one was rooting for you two more than Collins," said Kristin.
"I'm surprised she even knew about us before we got caught," Annabelle puffed.
"Well, none of us knew for sure until then…" Kristin replied, "
"I guess I need to go give these back to Garret," said Annabelle still holding the pack and stomping out the butt of her cigarette.
Annabelle started walking that way but was quickly intercepted by Craig.
"It's time to go. Say goodbye to your friends and get in the car," Craig demanded.
"Get your hands off me. I have to return these to Collins' brother," said Annabelle easily wriggling out of Craig's hold on her shoulder.
When Annabelle reached the place where Garret was standing, she saw that he had nearly crumbled to the ground, only kept standing by the support his father's shaky arms. She wondered if Collins knew how much her family loved her. Probably not. She decided to delicately slip the pack into Garret's back pocket while offering quick condolences to the parents.
The ride back to Rutherford Academy was as agonizingly short as the ride to the funeral was long. Senator Tillman gave her an empty embrace before leaving. Annabelle sighed and rolled her eyes as she walked through the metal detector at the entrance to the academy. She hadn't even had time to do anything that would warrant a scan.
"I hope you enjoyed your time away. Please join the others in the cafeteria," said Gen. Kohlman.
"Fun? I was at my friend's funeral," said Annabelle before she could stop herself.
"Join the others in the cafeteria," Gen. Kohlman repeated.
God, she and Emmaculatta could be twins, Annabelle thought.
As soon as she finished eating what little she decided to eat, Annabelle decided to go straight to bed. She wanted this day to be over with as soon as possible. She was relieved to find that her roommate had not also left dinner early. She stripped off her funeral dress and let it lay crumpled on the floor, very much against Rutherford regulations. She was just about to get up and turn off the lights when she noticed something sticking ever so slightly out of the sole white book on her otherwise bare bedside table. Annabelle hadn't even opened the book in a while and she thought Allison knew better than to borrow her things without asking. When she opened the book to remove the paper, she saw that it wasn't just a scrap of paper.
"Dear Allison,
I am very surprised and happy to hear from you. As sad as the news about Collins is, I'm glad you told me. I love and miss you as well. There's so much to say that I know I can't write it all down. Please take care of yourself and try to follow the rules.
-Love,
Aunt Simone
P.S. Tell Sister Clair that it's not her fault. "
Annabelle read the letter over several times before crying happily and holding it to her chest. She was so overjoyed that she didn't even hear her roommate come in.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, cover up, will you?" Allison complained.
Annabelle rolled her eyes and threw her robe on messily.
"I see you've been doing a bit of light reading," Allison laughed.
"Allison, I love you so much right now! I could kiss you," Annabelle gushed.
"That's perfectly fine…save all that for…'Aunt' Simone," said Allison.
"Seriously, thank you so much for doing this for me," Annabelle said regaining her composure.
"Who knew my last name, the one thing my abusive, bigoted father ever gave me, would be the hero of the Sapphic reimagining of Romeo and Juliet?" Allison retorted.
"More like Roseanne and Juliet," said Annabelle pressing the letter to her chest one last time.
