I did not mean for week 1 to be so long (hee hee hee!)
The Month of Eating (April) at age 11
Week 1
April Fools day; the perfect time to get Violet back for the 'blonde Brynn' incident. It's washed out now. My hair's still a little lighter than it was before, but I'm sure it won't be for much longer. You'd have to be looking at my hair really close to notice the difference. So close, in fact, that it would just be plain creepy.
The problem with this pranking business is that it generally isn't what I do. After sitting on my bed for about two hours with a page torn out the back of this notebook, I hadn't got a single decent plan written down. I did consider swapping Violet's shampoo with a bottle of hair dye and seeing whether or not she noticed, but I had no idea how to do it. And anyway, she's an expert with hair accessories; she'd know the difference immediately.
I refused to answer Sophia when she asked what I was doing. She'd most likely tell Violet and I didn't want to risk that. Instead I told her it was a letter to Hannah. Of course, that means now I have to write a letter to Hannah later or else Sophia will know I was lying.
I asked our new teacher, the purple ixi lady who I recognised from assembly, if I could do something important. It was half way through pur archery lesson so I wasn't expecting her to say yes.
"Mandy," I asked politely. She told us to use her first name because otherwise she doesn't feel right, or rather
"It feels so queer asking after me so formally. I know your last tutor preferred you to address him as thus, but I don't see the point in it. Call me Mandy."
So we do.
Anyway, after I'd called her, she came over.
"Straighten your back, Brynneth." She told me, no doubt thinking I wanted to ask her for help. "And lift your bow a little higher."
"Actually, I need to go see someone in another class." I told her. "May I?"
"Of course." She agreed. "But come straight back."
I was actually quite shocked she said yes, but decided to head off before she changed her mind. Not that she would have done, Mandy is a very friendly teacher, but I wanted to be on the safe side.
Sam's class have been preparing for next month's graduation tournament in which, if they prove themselves worthy, they'll be recognised as a proper guard and no longer have to do lessons, heading out on proper guard duties and that sort of thing.
Poor Sam; looked like his teacher was the grumpy graal whom I'm fairly sure does not much like Sam.
I knocked on the door to the hall where we tend to practice sword fighting.
"Enter." I heard the graal say. I opened the door and poked my head round.
"Brynn!" Sam said. It looked like he was fighting in the sword ring at the time against someone; I couldn't see who because their helmet covered their face.
Sam's opponent tried to use the fact that Sam had turned to face me as an opportunity to attack him, but Sam blocked with his sword without even turning round to face him. I smiled a little and Sam said something to both his teacher and opponent before hopping out of the training ring and running over.
"How was that?" He asked.
"Brightvale's criminals won't know what hit them." I told him, which made him smile.
"What brings you up to the big boys class." He asked me, sitting on a bench and patting beside him like I was three. I sat down where he said to and said
"Firstly, there are girls in your class too. Secondly, I'm here to get Violet back." I explained my situation.
"Hmm..." He said after my explanation. "Do you know what I do when I'm in a situation like that?"
"If this is go for a walk..." I warned. He chuckled at that.
"Well, I was going to say ask my mum, but I guess you could go for a walk if you want to."
"No, I'm okay!"
"Aw, Brynn." Sam protested. "I mean, last time I suggested you go for a walk, didn't you bump into your boyfriend?"
I glared and elbowed him in the side.
"Ow!" He complained.
"He's my friend who is a boy." I told him fiercely. "Not my boyfriend!"
"Okay, okay, okay! Just teasing, Tiger!"
"Good."
Despite saying I don't want to go for a walk, Sam told his teacher he was taking me out and then took me back to my class.
"Excuse me, miss." He said to Mandy.
"Sam?" She asked. "Oh, it's been a while!"
"Yes, it has." He agreed. "Do you mind if I take little miss Brynneth out for a walk? I won't let her get hurt."
"Just make sure she 's back before this afternoon's lessons start." Mandy told him and Sam led me off.
He took me to a really tall oak tree on the edges of the market place.
"This is where I always sit when I need a moment to think." He told me. We sat down under the tree and started brain storming ideas.
We'd been there for a while when I heard a branch in the tree crack above my head. I leapt to the side, pushing Sam over and landing me on top of him just in time as the branch cracked leaving an embarrassed-looking blue ixi staring at me meekly.
"How long have you been up there?" I asked, standing up and folding my arms.
"A while?" He said as if it was a question.
"Hanso!"
"It's a very good look-out post!" Hanso insisted before adding. "And there are some people I really don't want to find me right now."
"What did you do?"
"Hanso," Sam said quickly. "Angry guild leader heading this way."
Hanso looked, saw Kanrik heading over and quickly shot up the tree.
"Hanso, if you think climbing up a tree is going to stop me from..." Kanrik was interrupted in his yelling up the tree by a cough from Sam.
"Need some assistance, sir?" Sam asked. I rolled my eyes at him and sat back down against the tree trunk.
"Yes," Kanrik told Sam. "Could you fetch Hanso out of the tree?"
"My pleasure." Sam said, doing a very melodramatic bow and heading up the tree. He came back down moments later holding Hanso by the arm.
"Got him!" He said proudly.
"Yeah, you got me." Hanso grumbled. Kanrik gripped Hanso's shoulder and Sam let go of his arm.
"If you think of running off," Kanrik warned. "Sam will send Brynneth after you and we all know she'll have no trouble catching you."
"Want a bet?" Hanso asked.
"Do I what?" Kanrik asked, but it was two late; Hanso had ducked out of his grasp and made a run for it.
Without needing to think twice, I grabbed Sam's sword from his belt (mine was in my room considering I had been in an archery lesson) and ran after him.
I chased him up a hill until we were outside the gates of Brightvale Castle. He couldn't go any further after that; the castle was in the way.
"Why did you come here?" I asked.
"Just seemed like a good place to go." He said.
"Are you coming back or am I going to have to make you?" I pointed Sam's sword at him.
"I'm coming!" He insisted.
"So what did you do?" I asked as we headed down the hill again.
"I may have 'accidently' played a prank on Kanrik and he may not have liked it."
"'Accidently'?" I asked.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"Not this time, Hanso."
When we got back, the first thing Sam did was snatch his sword back and stroke the handle lovingly before putting it back in its place on his belt.
"Honestly, Brynn!" He joked. "You're supposed stop the thieves, not steal things too!"
I ignored him and made sure Kanrik got Hanso back okay.
"We should go, Brynn." Sam said.
"Hold on." I turned to Kanrik. "If I was to send a letter to Hannah, where exactly would I send it to?"
"Is this a riddle?" He asked.
"No, it's a question."
"She works here." He said after giving it some thought, scribbling an adress on a scrap of paper and handing it to me.
"Thanks." I took the paper and followed Sam back.
As we headed back, Sam apologised for not being much help. I told him it was okay, and that I had a plan to get Violet back anyway.
After putting those little plastic petpetpets in her bed before coming to my dorm for bed, I believe she will think twice before dying my hair blonde again.
Week 2
She treated me rather icily for a few days after April Fools' Day, but now Violet's back to normal.
My letter to Hannah went something along the lines of:
'Dear Hannah,
I sort of had to write this. You see, Violet dyed my hair blonde and so, to get her back, I decided to prank her. But Sophia saw me planning on a scrap of paper and asked what I was doing. I had to lie in case she told Violet, so I said I was sending a letter to you. Of course, that now means I have to send you a letter or she'll get suspicious. Kanrik gave me the address in case you were wondering, and I think I half remember you saying something about working at a bar on Krawk Island so his address makes sense.
Oh, Violet's been asking us this question about you which we, of course, can't answer. The question is; "Are you engaged to Kanrik yet?" I know you won't be because the chances are that Hanso and Kanrik would have mentioned it the other day, but I'd like you tp say so yourself so that I have written proof for Violet.
Brynn"
Week 3
Sophia's moved up into our age group too now! It was her birthday. Now knowing what to get, I just picked up a random book on the shelf of the book shop. Sophia reads old cereal packets sometimes if she's desperate; she'd surely read some random book, right?
Wrong.
"King Jazan's Biography?" She read aloud. "He's the most annoying king ever! I'll read it once I've finished my other books." There must have been at least twenty other books.
"Ooh!" Violet said, picking the book up off of the floor. "He's kinda hot."
"He's kinda married." I said, matching her tone. She stuck her tongue out at me and flipped it open.
"I never thought I'd see the day." Sophia said happily.
"What day?" I asked.
"The day Violet willingly read a book."
Week 4
I'm scared now.
Violet came back from the market place earlier with a GIANT poster of King Jazan and she has stuck it to her bedroom wall. Sharon's overjoyed about Violet finally getting 'her first celebrity crush' and asked me and Sophia if we had crushes too.
"Umm..." We struggled; lie and say yes? Or say no and annoy Sharon?
"Roxton Colchester." Sophia lied.
"The third." I added.
"Very good-looking guy, right Brynn?" Sophia nudged me.
"What? Oh, yeah!" I lied. "Yes, yes. He's so... Orange..."
"Orange is so in style!" Sharon said.
I'm really glad she does not know who Roxton Colchester III is, otherwise she would have said more than 'orange is in style' and something more like 'he is, like, such a rubbish explorer!'
