Hey everybody! I'm sorry for the wait, I've been busy lately. But here we are, the second and last rewritten chapter of For her freedom! Like in the previous chapter, I'll write at the end the changes that took place (or I'll write what was kept, this would be quicker)
First of all, I'll reply to your reviews:
Winxkate: Thanks for your review! Well, you'll see why the nightmare changed later in the story. It will have an explanation, and this explanation fits more this dream than the previous one. And once again, thank you, your comments always make me smile!
Flora: Thanks for your review on Amaranth :) Well, I think it is just a problem for the two first chapters, but I'm glad you liked them anyway!
Lostmirage: Thank you! I hope the rest will not disapoint you either! I think that focusins on details is more important for this particular story; I cannot tell why yet, it will be revealed later!
FH: Thanks for your review, and I'm sorry for the wait; I've been quite busy.
Rebel's secret: Thanks! :) Well, I did not want to have Krystal as a threat or a spoiled girl, I just wanted her in her right place, as good friend of Helia.
Guest: Don't worry, I'm not over with this story! ;)
CHAPTER 2
When the girl sat next to him, it did not take him long to realize she was not prepared for the class. She opened her notebook at the first page, which was a completely white and blank one, signaling that she did not do her homework (which consisted on explaining the character of Gertrude and her wedding in the play Hamlet), and that she might not be aware she had something to do at home.
Helia, knowing how his teacher behaved, was well aware that Palladium was going to test her and ask her about what she thought of the character of Gertrude. This poor girl seemed so lost that Helia waited for Palladium to go to the blackboard to push his sheet where he had written his answer towards her, after adding a little "he'll test you, this is my answer" above it. Flora began to read it, but Palladium did what Helia predicted he would do and pointed his piece of chalk at her.
"The new one, what do you think of the second wedding of Gertrude?"
The girl gulped, but soon began to recite Helia's answer. "T-This could be a reference to Henri VIII's wedding with Catherine of Aragon, which was observed as a sin since she had already been married to his brother."
Palladium seemed disappointed, which seemed to scare the girl, but Helia knew it was because she had an answer and she had not stayed silent. The teacher then shrugged. "Why not. We cannot know exactly what Shakespeare thought when he wrote it: this is the pleasure of literature." Palladium replied to the answer. After he turned his back to them and went to the blackboard, she turned at him and whispered a small and shy "thank you", to which Helia only replied with a smile and a small nod.
The teacher did not question the students during the last half hour of the class. He just gave interpretations of lines and of situations, and it was the first time since the beginning of the school year that Helia did not listen to him. The rest of the hour flowed quickly, but Helia found a hard time not to look down at his gorgeous seat neighbour who did not even look up to take notes on what Palladium said. When the bell finally ringed, the brunette did not look up at him nor say anything: she just made her way out the room and disappeared. He felt a little disappointed not to have started a conversation with her, because he had felt he could befriend someone new, but what could he do to catch up?
The rest of the day went fast, and Helia tried not to fall asleep on his other classes and in the library while finishing his homework waiting for his friends to end their school day. He thought some times of Flora, wondering if she was having a hard time blending in with the others. Having himself endured this situation of arriving in a new school when he was in secondary school, he knew how hard it was to get new friends… and knowing how numerous they were in his year group, he was well aware of how difficult it was going to be for her. He did not know why, he just hoped that the rest of the day went well for her too.
"Helia… Helia… Helia!"
The young man finally opened his eyes but was soon blinded by the light. Thinking he was going to see Nabu or Layla shaking him like a rag doll after falling asleep on the car, he mumbled something which looked like a "shut up", before noticing he was facing his mother.
"Mom?"
"It was about time!" Maia exclaimed after straitening the curtains she might have opened in one rough movement. Helia then noticed he was not on his friend's car, but in his room. "Nabu is waiting outside!"
"Waiting?" Helia mumbled, sitting up on his bed. "What time is it?"
"It's almost 7.30 a.m.!" Maia replied, obviously angry and anxious that her son was going to arrive late at college, even though it had never been in his habits to miss school.
"7.30a.m?" Helia took a look at his alarm clock which showed indeed 7.28 a.m. "Shit!" He swore and jumped out of bed in one movement, grabbing his pile of clothes and hurrying towards the bathroom only to get dressed. As he grabbed his bag and climbed down the stairs, Maia yelled "Take something to eat!"
Of course, Helia did not listen and just replied on the same tone a "I'll buy something at college!" which of course he was not going to do for lack of time.
Helia hurried to the red car and climbed in rapidly, even though he knew they would still reach college in time since he was not so late meeting place. Once he reached his seat, he calmed his breathe down and realized that it had been weeks since he slept like this. He did remember having this freaking nightmare again, but the feeling was not the same. He did not remember waking up in a cold sweat, with his heart beating and racing two hours before joining his friends, like he did every day. He wished that this wasn't a false hope and that things really started to get better, because for once, he would go to college without missing his bed and pillow. As usual, Nabu teased him about any reason he might find when he entered the vehicle, and this day, it was…
"It's in your bag." Nabu said out of nowhere, earning a questioning look from Layla and from himself, but soon realized he knew what he was talking about.
"What?" Helia grumpily replied. He was not in the mood for this after such a useless rush.
"The new girl." Nabu replied, still with this annoying smirk of his stuck on the lips. The young man knew pertinently what his friend was talking about, and this did not help him calming down.
"I just helped her with Palladium." Helia replied, well aware that this wouldn't stop Nabu in his ideas.
"Yeah yeah, while staring at her while she walks away from the room." Nabu underlined, earning an elbowing from Layla. Helia thanked her mentally, but decided he would still reply.
"I was not staring."
"You were not very discreet." Nabu added with a smirk.
Helia rolled his eyes. He had no other argument. "Shut up."
Even though the conversation ended, Nabu's words kept repeating again and again on his mind. "Staring while she walks away – you were not very discreet – staring while she walks away…" It was not the fact that Nabu saw him look at the new woman walking away from the room –he could not deny the fact that, yes, he was looking at her-, but what truly disturbed him was that… he could not find a woman pretty without earning a reflection concerning his unusual behaviour. He realized each time that, despite him feeling fine being single, the others still thought he longed for a girlfriend, even if he only knew the woman for a couple of minutes… as he did with the new student.
The rest of the ride went as usual; they took Krystal in the process and they discussed about everything and nothing. When they arrived, Helia immediately had two classes and did not go to the library with his friends. In these two class groups, Helia knew no one, or at least, befriended no one. Moreover, this subject (mathematics) bored him as nothing had every bored him, and since he was still obligated to follow these lessons, he sat each time at the back and got prepare to doodle and draw anything that came on his mind. He was on this room for two hours and it was the teacher who changed room. The hour flew so slowly that Helia thought time had stopped. Each time he turned his wrist up to take a look at his watch, he expected to see that almost half an hour had passed, but noticed that only five minutes did. So, he went on using his black pen to draw on the top of his counterfoil book pages. Out of nowhere, the girl from the day before's face came back on his mind. He remembered how beautiful she looked, but also how desperate and anxious she looked too. He hoped she was doing fine with this new life in his university, until...
"C-Can I sit here?" He heard a soft voice asking him. He looked up and encountered the young woman. This time, she was wearing a black rose pattern top with a black knee-length pleated skirt, and had her wavy hair tied up in an up pony-tail; she was looking even more radiant than the day before. He simply nodded, and she took the place next to him. Remembering how disappointed he felt the day before for not having started a conversation with her, he felt overjoyed for getting another opportunity… but he soon realized how hard it was to talk to someone for the first time. The last time he was the one who engaged a conversation with a stranger, it was with Nabu when they were in secondary school. Nabu introduced Layla to him when the two had started to date, and they became friends afterwards, and Krystal was the one who made the first step towards him. Helia had always been shy; at least when it came to start conversations. He always suffered from great difficulties to talk with someone new, but this time, he confronted this fear. And he regretted it immediately.
"Good morning." Helia said after a few minutes of silence. She gasped, but soon replied with the same answer. Another without-noise moment fell, leaving him regretting to have talked to her. But this time, it was her who cut the silence off.
"T-Thank you for yesterday." She said with an obvious difficulty. "I-I did not have time to buy the book yet a-and Palladium scared the hell out of me."
"It's okay." Helia said with a smile. "If you need anything, you can ask me."
"I-I don't want to bother you." She said, finally looking up. For the first time, he finally saw her eyes. He only saw a pair of sparkling emeralds of a pure green, and his breathe was completely cut off by astonishment at how beautiful she was. Of course he found her gorgeous from the moment she entered the room, but at this moment, this ancient feeling was nothing. He could not retreat, he could not look away, the only thing he could do was stare at her eyes.
When the teacher raised her voice at some girls on the other side of the room, Helia was finally cut off from the spell she casted on him, and he eventually looked away from her. "Y-You do not bother me, if I suggest it."
"Y-You're right." She said with a sigh. "I-I'm sorry for leaving like a thief in the night without thanking you."
"That's fine." Helia replied again. "It's okay to be nervous when we discover new territories."
"Territories?" She underlined, finally with a bit of fun on her voice. Was she (finally) becoming a little more confident? "That's too big of a word, no?"
Helia shrugged. "It is another world."
Flora chuckled, and Helia thought this was one of the cutest sounds he had ever heard on his life. And this was only the beggining of what he was going to see of her.
"If you want my notes of litterature, I can lend them to you." Helia told her, just after the teacher freed them a few minutes earlier and they got out. The new girl looked up at him and showed him a beautiful smile for the first time, revealing others beautiful features of hers. The two had not been chatting a lot since the teacher always looked at the class, but Helia had managed to ask her where she came from, and he had been partially right with Nabu the day before, she came from another university.
"Thank you."
Helia then immediately began to search for his notebook on his bag and handed it to her, their eyes met once again. And once again, he could not withdraw nor look away from her eyes. After a few seconds, Helia cleared his throat and gave her the book, this time making sure he was not looking at her.
"I'll give it back to you tomorrow" She said as she held the book against her chest, apparently making sure she wouldn't damage it. "At least if we have some classes in common."
"I don't know, what is your timetable?"
The girl took a sheet of paper out of her bag and the two looked at it. The two had only five hours in common, at least they had one per day –and he noticed that she and Layla were almost in all same classes-. He somehow felt a bit disappointed; for once he could befriend and help a new student… He just hoped that it wouldn't stop him from talking to her.
"We have an hour together per day." She noticed like him, but out loud this time. Helia smiled at her and nodded.
"I'll give you back your book tomorrow then."
"Okay, errr.." Helia blocked, realizing he still did not know her name. She seemed to have read his mind after a few seconds of silence, and answered his untold question.
"Flora."
Flora. This name suited her perfectly. Her long caramel hair, her nature-lover appearance, her tanned skin, her emerald-hair, her sweet face only leaking out kindness… There couldn't be any name suiting her better than this two-syllable one related to nature and flowers.
"That's a beautiful name." Helia finally said without really thinking or even noticing it.
"T-thanks." She blushed a little again, but soon looked up, an apparent red rose coloured flush still present on her cheeks. "And you are?"
"Helia." The young man replied. Flora's beautiful smile grew a little wider after his answer; he did not immediately understand why.
"This means "sun", doesn't it?" She asked, and Helia almost appreciated this question. For the first time, he felt he was in front of a person who shared the same passion as him. No one ever noticed the meaning of his name, and he was quite glad that someone finally noted it.
"Yeah… But I don't know if this is the perfect name for me."
"I think it suits you." Flora said, but did not develop her thought afterwards. He wondered if it was just a random compliment, or if she actually meant what she said.
"Thanks." Helia said with a smile. Fearing they would have no subject to discuss anymore, and since he had a few minutes before joining his friends, he decided to talk about something else. "S-so… Do you have lots of classes today?" This was random, this was simple, but this was also the only subject he came with under only one or two seconds. Flora shrugged.
"I have one hour of art after, and I'll be over for the day."
"You chose art?" Helia asked with a happy smile. If she liked it, then, she would be the first woman he knew to like art too.
"Yeah, this is the only university to suggest this. I jumped on the occasion." Flora said. "By the way, I saw you draw something on your book when I arrived earlier."
Helia nodded. "I love to draw, when I start, I can't stop myself."
Flora smiled again. And Helia noticed that he began to like this feature of hers. "I think it's great!"
When the bell ringed, Flora took a look at her white watch she wore on her left wrist and held his notebook tighter against her chest. "I'm going to be late, I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
"T-Talking with you was great." Flora admitted with a slight blush, and Helia's heart skipped a small beat at her cuteness. "I'll give you your book tomorrow."
"It's okay if you need more time." Helia suggested, but she shook her head from left to right.
"That'll be fine, thank you." She replied. "See you tomorrow."
"See you." Helia replied and, as he did the day before, he looked at her walking away, satisfied and reassured with their conversation. Flora had looked more confident than the day before, and he was glad than the two had managed to talk with each other a little. This caught up the deception he felt when Flora had walked away without a look behind and that the two had not talked.
After a few seconds of emptiness, Helia remembered it was soon going to be noontime and that his friends were going to wait for him to get lunch. He went to his meeting place where Krystal was supposed to wait for him. He spotted her sitting on a blue chair with her laptop on her laps.
"Sorry, I'm late." Helia exclaimed. The lavender haired closed her item and sighed.
"It was about time!" Krystal teased him as he reached his friend. When he arrived next to her, they immediately began to walk to the outside where Nabu and Layla would be waiting for them like every Wednesday to go to the cafeteria "what took you so long?"
"I was talking with Flora." Helia replied immediately before realizing Krystal did not know the new girl's name. "I mean the new one."
The lavender haired chuckled. "I would have bet it."
Helia looked down at Krystal, who kept stubbornly smirking at him. "Nabu told me you had a crush on her."
Helia groaned, this time in pure boredom. Once again, the situation occurred. "I've know her for a day. I just landed her my notes when Palladium interrogated her and gave her my notebook."
"You know how Nabu is." Krystal underlined, certainly after noticing Helia's despair. The young man did not reply, but Krystal did not back down.
"So, how is she?" She asked him with a smirk that, this time, Helia did not notice. This question brought Flora's face back on his mind.
"She has the most mesmerizing eyes that I have ever seen in my life." Helia told her, once again lost in his thoughts, from which he was parted when he finally noticed Krystal's satisfied grin. He did not say anything, he just turned away and began to walk faster to the cafeteria where their two other friends would be waiting.
He did not know why, but he couldn't wait until the next day.
As promised, here are the changes... But I'll start with what was kept:
- Helia saying "She has the most mesmerizing eyes that I have ever seen in my life" to Krystal
... nope, I wasn't satisfied with the original one that much.
Anyway, here are the changes:
- Flora and Helia do not have homework to do together (yet?). Instead, he gave her his answer.
- No Flora point of view (in the original, she has a conversation with Layla from her point of view, but it's important not to have it here for the future of the story)
- Helia and Flora start their conversation in this chapter and not in the previous one, and they do it in their second class together and not in their first one.
- Flora and Layla did not meet yet
So, this chapter changed overall, but once again, these are important for the future of the story. I hope you still liked this new chapter, and the next one will be completly new, nothing rewritten!
Review? :D
