Disclaimer: I do not own The Caster Chronicles. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl do. I'm just playing in their playground.
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Chapter Thirty-Five
Mid-April 1989
Final exams were coming up.
There were scrolls she had to take notes on at the Lunae Libre.
And, then there was Mitchell.
"Lila. What a surprise."
He came walking up to her with a cup in each hand.
"A study date?" Lila said.
Mitchell shook his head as he gave her one of the cups.
"It's a chocolate shake for you. You see, I've seen you around the quad at this hour every day for the past few weeks."
"So you've been stalking me?"
He ran up to her as she started to walk away.
"Look I am mighty sorry about our last meeting together. I started off on the wrong foot with you. Let me introduce myself again. Hello, I am Mitchell Wate."
He stuck his hand out.
Lila positioned the books she was carrying so she could shake his hand. It was the polite thing to do, after all.
"I thank you for your kindness, but I'm not interested."
Mitchell bit his lip, but gave her a small smile in return. He stopped her at a familiar oak tree and Lila had to keep the flash backs from overwhelming her.
"That's alright. I might have come off a bit too strong. I do like you and I would like to do something with you. So, let's just go out as friends and see where it goes. I was thinking karaoke."
Lila rose an eyebrow. "Karaoke?"
Mitchell nodded his head as he came closer to her.
"Mallory's Pub has a great karaoke night."
Lila was never the one for karaoke, but if she wanted to have some time for herself indulging in his whims was something to consider. Mitchell shifted his weight from foot to foot. Lila took the chocolate shake he had for her and he smiled.
"Just friends, right?" Lila said.
Mitchell nodded.
"Just friends. If it goes more than that, then that's what's in store. If not, I'll back off."
Lila felt her mouth perk up. "I guess we have a deal."
Mitchell smiled at her.
"I guess we do Lila."
#
"You're finally going out?" Marian said.
Lila rolled her eyes.
"I've been out."
Marian snorted.
"New Orleans and Gatlin does not count as going out. That's work."
"It's still going out."
Marian shook her head as she poured over books and books to start preparing her doctoral dissertation. She would begin writing it by the end of the summer.
"You haven't been out since Lloyd took you to a movie and you were rude to him."
Lila gave Marian a dirty look.
"He was bragging about all these medals he got for winning science fairs. It was unnerving and ridiculous."
"Then what about Shawn. He was a very nice guy."
"Who happened to lie about his age. He told me he was nineteen when he was really seventeen."
Marian frowned.
"I forgot about that."
Lila went into the kitchen to wash her dishes. She wore some jeans and a white buttoned up shirt. It was a bit dirty considering she hadn't a lot of time to do laundry. However, it was the cleanest thing she had available.
"Still, you should relax and have fun. You used to."
Marian paused for a moment not knowing what Lila might say to her.
Lila put her hair half up and half down. A style she started to wear more often now, rather than the ponytail or braids she wore for Macon from time to time.
"I'm being nice. That's it."
Marian shifted in her chair and when she looked up at Lila she grimaced.
"Look I know you don't want me to say this to you, but Lila you have to move on."
"I'm moving on." Lila said, but even to her it felt like a lie. Marian shook her head.
"By reading books constantly, by doing your duties as a Keeper, by hanging out in New Orleans where you smell Macon's old clothes." Lila glared at Marian who shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you do understand that you have an obsession."
"To the greater good." Lila pointed out to her friend. Marian pushed her glasses up to her nose.
"That might be so, but you need to take time for yourself every once in awhile."
"Says the woman who is perpetually single."
Marian's face paled and Lila felt her stomach clench.
"Well then, I guess that's the real you isn't it?"
Marian shifted in her chair and went back to her books and hadn't looked up from them as she continued.
"I never thought of you as the person to get caught up on a single man. I know the two of you were in love, but life moves on Lila. He's moved on, and you have to move on too." Marian peered up from her work. Her eyes unblinking as she caught Lila's eyes before they fell to the ground.
"You need to think about what he would want you to do. Would he want you to wallow and become a shell of yourself? Or would he want you to be the person he fell in love with? Think about that as you go out tonight."
Lila watched her friend as she continued scanning her notes. Lila felt like she was slapped and her entire body numb from shock. Picking up her belongings, Lila walked outside. The spring breeze chilled her, even if she knew it wasn't that cool. Mitchell's car rolled up and stopped. He got out of his side of the car.
It was no hearse, but it was a beat up Pontiac that had seen better days. The very same car stopped on the side of the road when Mitchell hadn't needed to. He wore jeans and a t-shirt that said Jackson High Wildcats on it. He smiled at her.
"Well don't you look fine tonight, Lila." Lila looked down at her jeans and her white button up shirt. It really wasn't anything special, but Mitchell opened up her door for her.
"Thanks." She stepped into the car and put her purse on her lap. Mitchell got back in his car and put his keys into the ignition.
"Ever done karaoke before?" Mitchell asked her as he started the car.
"Once, back in Savannah with some friends from school. We weren't very good."
"You don't need to be good; you just need to have fun. Nobody's good at karaoke anyway."
Lila was sure there was at least one person who would be, considering she remembered him singing a song for her one time. Shaking her head, her eyes were on the road.
"So, I never did ask: what are you majoring in?"
Lila sat further back into the seat. Marian's words repeated themselves in her head and it gave her a beginning of a migraine. Sighing, Lila peered at him.
"History with a concentration in American history, but specializing in the Civil War era."
"Well ain't that somethin'? Back in Gatlin they have Civil War reenactments all the time. The Battle of Honey Hill. I'm sure you would love it."
Oh, she knew all about the Battle of Honey Hill—the parts where Casters were concerned.
He continued on, not noticing her eyes were going misty.
"You see Mr. Lee had us, his students, attend it every year as a project for school. It got boring after awhile, and annoying when he called it the War of Northern Aggression. It's the Civil War."
Lila quirked up an eyebrow. She knew that many people liked to call the Civil War by that name. It was a topic Macon had brought up a few times. Her heart ached.
"I guess some people just don't want to face the truth."
"Ain't that the truth," Mitchell said.
Marian's words spun themselves around in her head and she couldn't shake them, and Mitchell's words did not help.
They sat there in silence. Lila heard the tap of Mitchell's fingers on the steering wheel as he drove them towards their destination.
"What's it like in Savannah? I've never been there."
Lila had plowed right on in with her favorite places growing up as a child. The parks she visited. The family drama at Thanksgiving and some of her bull-headed family members, her father an exception as her sister, Caroline, was. Mitchell chuckled.
"Oh I hear ya. The Wates are the same way, bullheaded and as thick as molasses. Although my great-aunts are a hoot. Mercy Lynn, especially. Though I've always had a soft spot for Prudence."
Prudence? Hadn't she heard that name before, somewhere?
"She's got a new cat, Lucille. Ugly little thing. I've never liked cats, or dogs for that matter."
Lila remembered seeing as Mitchell kicked started her memory. Prudence was a Caster Tunnel cartographer, and the name Lucille felt familiar as well.
"What you have against cats and dogs?"
Mitchell shrugged his shoulders.
"Nothin specifically with cats, but there's an exceptionally wild dog in our town. A black dog, don't know who owns him, or her, never knew what sex it is."
It had to be Boo, but Lila kept silent.
"Don't you call animal services?"
"Have in the past, but the damn dog gets away every time."
That was Boo alright.
They continued on, talking about school and books. Mitchell was a reader, much more than she thought him to be with his imperfect grammar when he spoke.
"Why do you talk like that?"
"Like what?" He drawled.
"You know, saying ain't when it isn't a proper contraction or even a word to begin with."
Mitchell shrugged his shoulders. "Everybody in Gatlin says it. It's just the way things are. It's not like I write it on papers or anything."
"It ruins your ethos, at least in the rhetoric sense."
Mitchell gave her a sideways glance, but they pulled into a parking lot of a lounge/slash bar. Mandy's where they would be going for a night of karaoke. He shut off the car and they walked together. Initially, Mitchell offered her his hand, but then remembered and just stuck it in his pocket of his jeans. He kicked a few loose stones as they walked up to the door.
"Well, I'll stop talking like that if it makes you happy. Besides I don't do it all the time."
"Then why do it at all?"
Mitchell shifted his weight from foot to foot before they entered the lounge with its kitschy neon lights and the wailing coming from the inside.
"Nervous habit, you could say. Come on, I'll get you a cream soda."
Lila glanced at Mitchell who opened the door for her.
"The stage awaits," he said with a smile. Snorting, Lila stepped inside with Mitchell by her side.
A/N:
I do realize that Lila seems a bit more cynical in this chapter, but I think of it that she hasn't come with terms with the reality that's in place.
This chapter as a whole…I tried. It feels too truncated, but I'm lost as to what else needs to be there. I know it's heavy on the dialogue, and I'm sure that's not a good thing.
Also, I have an announcement. So, somehow I came across the fact that Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have astounded me: THEY'RE WRITING MACON AND LILA'S STORY. It's coming out THIS MARCH ON THE 10th (in the U.S and I don't know about other countries or territories). It's an ebook and it's a novella. However, you can download reading apps for free.
It's called: The Mortal Heart by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Don't believe me? Look it up on Google or any other search engine. It's there. I had heard an announcement that the authors were up to something, but the details were iffy. I think they wanted to surprise people, but I was fairly sure I knew what they were going to be writing about.
Anyway, I'm unsure about how I feel. I'm excited, but I've been pretty disappointed with everything they've done after they finished the original series. However, it sounds interesting. I've had Macon and Lila's story in my head for well over a year and a half, so my head canon and the author canon will be interesting to come in terms with.
Thank you for your time.
Much Obliged,
Dark Horse Writer