Carpe Diem Part Two
Joey returned fifteen minutes later to see Corr bending over an ink-stained sheet of paper.
"Homework?" she asked. Corr nodded and she continued, "Good. I'm glad to hear your teachers make you do something."
Corr glared at her.
"Is it even in your nature to shut up?" he inquired. Even after only twenty minutes of her servitude, he had the feeling his judgment of her was correct—she was a proper pain in the rear end.
"No," replied Joey. She chewed on a strand of blond hair, thinking. "Nope," she decided at last. "Definitely not."
"That's an awful habit, you know," Corr told her, motioning at the piece of hair.
"Yes, I know." Joey kept sucking it. "So?"
"So, you really shouldn't do it."
"And…?"
"Well…" Corr trailed off.
"Why is it your concern if I suck my hair?"
"Well, I was just saying…"
"I know you were saying, but what you were saying is really more of my concern," said Joey.
"I thought it wasn't my concern."
"It's not! It's mine!"
"Why are we fighting over whose concern it is?"
"Because—because you started it!"
"I did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"SHUT UP!" they yelled at each other. Joey rolled her eyes and pushed the hair she had been chewing back again.
"You know," Corr said thoughtfully, "usually servants are nice and obedient."
Joey poked her tongue out at him before hurling a small rock statue at him. Corr tipped to one side and fell off his chair. The statue bounced off the wall behind him.
"What was that for?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his head where it had hit the floor.
"That," said Joey, "was for insulting me. And it was for acting like servants are pigs!"
"I thought it was mules," muttered Corr. "Where did pigs come in?"
Joey heard him:
"You're the pig, idiot!"
"Now I'm an idiot?"
"Arrrgh!" Joey threw up her hands. "Why are you so stupid? You nobles are supposed to be smart!"
"We are?"
Joey hit herself with the heel of her hand and shook her head hard, sending a pin rocketing out. It hit Corr on the forehead with the force of a well-thrown pebble.
"What is with you and throwing things?" Corr groaned. "I mean, really!"
"Oh, just shut up!"
"Why don't you?"
"I'm going to bed!"
"It's not even half past yet!"
"So?"
"Are you, like, weird or something?"
"No more than you!"
"I'm not weird!"
"Oh, yes you are!"
"Just leave me alone!"
"I will if you will!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
Corr marched out the doorway, slamming the heavy wooden door behind him. Joey winced as the metal clanged into place, then made a face at the closed door.
*
[the next morning]
Tom had decided, after a night of Corr not talking to him, that he was tired of ignoring him. Usually they only stayed mad at each other for a few hours, but not now.
Besides, Tom had the vague feeling Corr was bothered about something. Last night he hadn't been as lively as he normally was amongst their group… several of his other friends had noticed, too. Tom wasn't too worried, but he was curious.
Stepping into Corr's room, Tom immediately noted something was wrong. Corr's homework papers were neatly stacked, and with the urge to examine them Tom found that they were also tidily done, no cross-outs or ink blots. It was unheard of, especially for Corr.
Rounding the corner into the more spacious part of Corr's chambers, Tom found someone sitting on a chair, legs flung over the sides, reading.
More correctly, the someone was a girl.
Tom grinned, and the girl looked up.
"Hello," she said. "Daresay he should be going down to breakfast? I had forgotten. I'm Joey."
Tom suppressed a grin as he turned to Corr's bed.
"Oi! Corr! There's a girl in your room!"
Corr rolled over sleepily and muttered a drowsy reply:
"I know. She's my servant."
The girl, Joey, shook her head and got out of the chair, walking over to Tom.
"No, no, no. That's not how you do it. Look."
She bent over Corr, positioning her lips over his ear.
"WAKE UP, YOU BIG LAZY SAD EXCUSE FOR AN OVERGROWN HAIRY APE'S REAR END!"
Corr jumped out of bed, startled. Joey smirked at him, and he scowled in response. Meanwhile, Tom was looking from him to her to him to her and back again.
"She's," Tom said disbelievingly, "your servant?"
"Yes," said Joey cheerfully. "Got a problem?"
"No. She's your servant?"
"Yes!" chorused Corr and Joey, each with a tone of disgust.
"But—but—she's a girl!" Tom was shocked.
"You are very observant," Joey said. "Yes, I am a girl. Would you like tea?"
"And he's a boy!"
"Very good, genius. Tea?"
"So she's not taken?" Tom asked Corr.
"Not by me, she's certainly not!"
"Tea?"
"She's open?"
"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU MEN AND TEA?"
The two boys turned to Joey, who was smiling innocently.
"Tea?"
Didja like it, hm? I'll continue. But I'm really itching to start on the sequel. Except that will be a problem, since there would be major spoilers in it. See, the sequel is a story about someone else, but they have a very interesting relationship with Joey and Corr… hm. Well, anyway, did you like the story?
~FireLily the Not-So-Great and Completely Insane