On the next morning Cecily saw her classmates for the first time. The first lecture was about the school rules and an introduction to the courses they are going to take. Cecily could not help getting a little nervous when listening to the severe-looking professor. So many courses! What would happen if she didn't learn one of them well and failed in the exam? Or worse, if she overslept on the examination day and totally missed it? She would have to redo the whole year, according to the rule. In fact, Cecily had no need to worry that much, but to be fair she was not the only student scared by the professor's severe tone.
And that she did not know anyone in her class apart from her roommates—Willy was in another class—had not helped matters any. During the class break Cecily desperately wanted to talk to someone, but Molly was dozing on the desk and Mary was busy talking with a young man, so after a minute of wistful searching, her eyes returned to the school rules written on the blackboard, and she frowned thoughtfully without actually thinking of anything.
When the bell rang Mary and the young man returned to their respective seats, and Cecily caught a glimpse of him. Suddenly her heart began to flutter and her face felt hot. What a handsome face! And how elegantly he walked! Cecily turned back her head, wanting to have a look at the charming face again—but the professor had already started talking.
Reluctantly, Cecily returned to her notebook, but the lecture had been ruined for her. She mechanically copied the professor's words onto her notebook, yet she had little idea what the words meant. Her mind wandered back to that charming face every minute. What did he look like? She tried hard to remember but couldn't.
The class was finally over. As the students rose and left the classroom, Cecily tried to catch another glimpse of the charming face. But—she did not find him.
In the days that followed, Cecily saw the charming face a few more times, and, though she was reluctant to admit it to herself, she found secret pleasure in seeing him. The young man seemed to be a pretty jolly student, proficient in all kinds of sports and active in social matters, and Cecily, who was good in none of these, admired him.
But what's his name? Cecily was curious, but she had not found any way to know yet. She did not like to ask Mary, and she felt too shy to ask the young man himself. Finally she found out during a class break, by taking a surreptitious peek at his desk. The name Ernie was written on his notebook.
Just at this moment she heard a male voice saying "Hello, Cecily King." It was that Ernie, amused at her shyness. Cecily instinctively ran away with a flushed face and crazy hearts, but when she returned to her senses she felt very bad about herself. What would Ernie think of her, running away in such an awkward and impolite manner, almost like a—like a—thief! She could never face Ernie again.
Yet she still wanted to see his charming face. One day Mary asked Cecily if she would go to watch a football match with her, and was pleasantly surprised when Cecily's eyes lighted up and said yes. In reality Cecily had no interest in football—but Ernie might be there!
Ernie was on the football team, but on that day he did not play for some reason. Cecily searched and searched and could not find him. Finally she dropped back onto her seat in bitter disappointment. She had always thought football a tedious game, but this was the first time that she found out that even tediousness could actually be unbearable.
This situation lasted for a week before the amount of such "silly nonsense", as Cecily in her sensible mood would describe them, accumulated to a breaking point. One night, when Cecily was going to say her prayers, a pang of remorse suddenly struck her. She had done a wicked, wicked thing. Is this girl her, Cecily, the model pupil of the Carlisle school, who has been using the time she was supposed to be studying her lessons to think of, of all things, boys? And at the very beginning of her life at Queen's too! What would her parents or Mr. Perkins say, had they known this? Cecily shuddered to think.
And she remembered Willy. Has she forgotten him, just after not seeing him for a mere week? Has she? Cecily painfully admitted that she had. Oh, isn't she a terribly fickle girl, to forget him and spend so much time thinking of another boy, one that she knows nothing about? No, this was more than fickleness. She felt positively unfaithful.
All of a sudden the charming face became ugly in her mind. She felt humiliated as she had never felt since that horrible incident with Cyrus Brisk. But that time it was at least Cyrus' fault. This time, it was all her own.
Finally she said in a low voice,
"Dear God, please forgive me for everything I had done this week. I promise I'd never look at, or talk to, or think of that Ernie again. Never, unless absolutely necessary."
Which might be a little unjust for the said Ernie, but Cecily felt she had to say it.
A/N: I have been dreadfully busy with schoolwork these days, but thankfully everything is going mostly fine, and besides I have almost figured out the main events in this ff as well as the next one. Read & review, please!