Chapter Two
The Joy of the Rose
"You can complain because roses have thorns,
or you can rejoice because thorns have roses"- Ziggy
As I woke the next morning I had a moment of comfort, a feeling that everything was alright. Then the memories and the grief came rushing back. Crashing into me with the force of a wave against a cliff, a sound I could vaguely hear from my bed nearest the window of my Aunt's manor house.
I turned over to see Ruby, my best friend, also tentatively opening her sparkling green eyes, her silvery-blonde hair sticking out at odd angles. There was a rap on the old oak door of our room, a similar sound to the one I thought may have woken me up.
"It's seven'o'clock!" Annika's piercing voice rang into the room. "I have your uniforms,"
"Enter," Ruby said grandly, making me giggle.
Annika came in, shooting evil looks at both of us. She had a pile of clothes neatly placed over her left arm and two pairs of black leather ankle boots tied over her right by the laces. She put the clothes at the end of Ruby's bed and the shoes on the floor. Then she looked at us once more in disgust before she left, curtly closing the door behind her.
"Oh, I don't think she likes us!" Ruby said, rolling her eyes,
"Don't Ruby, you were a bit rude,"
We both got out of bed to see our new school uniforms. "It was a joke Bree, it made you laugh!"
I smiled and hugged her tight, "I'm so glad you're here with me," She squeezed me back but stayed silent, obviously a little uncomfortable at the show of emotion.
But that was why I loved her, why she was my best friend, rather than any other person at our old school. Everyone was my friend, I didn't have trouble with new people and always knew what to say. But Ruby, she was different, a lot more awkward. More cold in some people's opinions. Every time I saw her I was curious to find out more about her, and the fact she barely seemed to notice me just fuelled that fascination. Soon we were friends, and it seems to me that we are both what the other needs.
"It's Fate, up to his old tricks," Ruby would say every time I commented on our strange friendship, and maybe it was.
We both changed out of our nightdresses and into the newly pressed uniforms. First there was a starched white shirt, and on top of that was a grey pinafore, made of some itchy material, it was about knee length. Then there were thick black tights and the hardy leather boots.
I was plaiting my hair over one shoulder, and Ruby was complaining when the clock struck half past seven. A knock sounded on the door, a quick tap, then Aunt Aurora strode into the room, her skirts flowing behind her.
"It is now half-past seven, therefore you must leave for school," She commanded briskly,
"But, we haven't had breakfast yet," Ruby said, Aunt Aurora turned to her sharply,
"I don't like your manners girl, and about your request, it is your own fault for being slow, the car is waiting downstairs to take you, but this shall happen only this once, then you shall walk." She produced two thick grey cloaks, "Now, off with you,"
We trailed past her, taking a cloak each. Then we walked down the hallway and the grand stairway, and onto the gravel path. I turned back to see her watching us from the top of the steps, then we were at the car.
I climbed in and Ruby slid in after me, then we were speeding away, along unknown roads to an unknown school.
"I am so hungry, who knows when we'll next eat!" I said, giggling a little,
"It's not funny, that's child cruelty that!" Ruby said, also laughing.
The car pulled smoothly to a stop, and the driver came round to open our door. Ruby slid out and I could hear her gasp,
"Breena, you have to see this place!"
I stepped out and my eyes widened, I was looking up at a grey stone building. But building didn't describe this place. First there were tall iron gates, moulded in complicated patterns, then a drive-way ran up the middle of two fields where a mass of children and teenagers, all dressed alike ran and talked. Then the school itself, it was grey stone and looked a little like a cathedral, their were stone angels over the precipice's and even stain glass windows. It had a tall steeplein the middleand then the rest of the building went lengthways. The door was at the bottom of the steeple tower.
"I didn't imagine it like this at all," Ruby said, I just nodded. A short woman with brown hair, tied in a bun came striding over to us.
"Breena and Ruby I assume." She said, "Follow me," She started to walk down the drive and over to the wooden door. As we walked people turned to stare at us. There were kids as young as about 5, and then some people were older than us. I noticed a group of girls around our age looking at us with raised eyebrows.
We walked into the school and followed the woman down a corridor, we hadn't turned so that meant the school must go quite far back, and we passed lots of stairways, indicating that there were indeed rooms where there were windows. We got to a wooden door and she knocked abruptly.
"Come in," A Male voice said,
We entered the office and my eyes were immediately taken with the picture of a rose garden, there was a girl sitting in the middle, reading a book, and surrounding her were bushes with roses of every hue. I noticed Ruby looking at it as well. Then I turned to the man at the desk. He was tall, and looked around forty, he had black hair, that had a few streaks of grey. His suit was neat as was his desk.
"Thank you Mrs. Gilden, girls, take a seat." The short woman exited the room and we sat in the two seats opposite his.
"I am Mr Flanagan, the headmaster of this school. Now Breena, your father and Aunt both came to this school, and that is why I accepted you both, even though it is so late in the term. Now you will of course be studying the same subjects as at your old school, but perhaps there will be different teaching methods." He smiled, and paused, obviously waiting to see if we had any questions.
I hadn't known my father had come here, all in all I knew very little about him. He had died when I was 9 and I had only a few memories of him, he was always playing with me, always kind, but he taught me things I had never learned elsewhere, skills he said would come in useful one day, such as archery. I also knew he was nothing like my aunt, in looks or personality.
"So do you have any questions?" Mr Flanagan prompted,
"Will we be in the same classes?"
"At first yes, but you may get swapped about, depending on your ability."
"Like sets at our old school, I guess," Ruby said, giving me a quick smile.
"If there's nothing else, I can show you to your first lesson, Arithmetic I believe." He got up and led us out of the office and down the corridor. I knew soon that we would both get lost a lot before the week was out.
At lunch we were sitting in the Great Hall, eating a thick broth with bread and butter. There were several long tables down the length of the hall, and at the head was a table with the line of food. Above this was a huge stain glass window, featuring some sort of religious scene I think.
"That girl is looking at me!" Ruby whispered, she pushed the strands of blonde hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ears. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the girl behind me. I turned around and sure enough a girl from our English class, Serenity Blake was looking at us, as was her surrounding group of friends. She began to walk over.
"Oh no," Ruby moaned.
"Hi, I'm Serenity, you're Breena right?" She said to me,
"Yes, and this is my best friend, Ruby,"
"Oh, we don't say that here, its a little infantile don't you think?" She smiled sweetly, her pale blue eyes glittering and her yellowish hair tied in a plait right down her back. She was taller, a lot taller than me as I was quite small, but she wasn't taller than Ruby who was almost 5 '' 10. "Anyway, I was wondering if you would like to eat with me today, I am the Head Girl here, and it would certainly boost your popularity and standing in the school community."
"I don't know,"
"Breena, really, don't you want to be liked here?"
"Is this invitation exclusive to me? Or is Ruby invited too?"
"I..." She paused, looking at Ruby with a look of slight disgust.
"Well I'm sorry Serenity, but no thanks," I smiled sweetly, I had had many girls like this in my old school, all sweet, wanting to be my friend, but it was nothing compared to the friendship I had with Ruby, that was true friendship.
"Fine," She said shortly then she turned on her heel,
"Good riddance!" Ruby said, glaring at her. A good looking boy then sat down next to me,
"Hey, I'm Robbie, Head boy, and Serenity's unfortunate partner in school events, I liked the way you handled her then," He smiled at me, his brown eyes gleaming with a smile. "You know you could probably be Head Girl."
"I was at my last school,"
"Try out here then, I would much rather go to meetings with you," He flashed me a perfect smile, but to me it looked too perfect and practised.
"I might yes, well I'm done, are you Rubz?" I quickly got up and lifted my tray.
"I'll take that for you," He said, still smiling,
"Thanks," I said, giving him the same smile as I'd given to Serenity. Ruby put hers on top, smiling as well, then we both walked out of the hall, leaving him gaping a little behind us.
"Who's popular today ey?" Ruby muttered,
"Don't Ruby, please, its not my fault creeps like that want to be my friend!"
"Or more!" She said, smiling evilly,
"No thanks!" I'd gone out with plenty of boys like Robbie, all good looking and charming, at first. But after a while you noticed their faults, a common one was simply wanting me to be a trophy for them. In fact I've heard that boys brag about going out with me terms after they have. Some of the stories are hilarious.
The end of the day found us walking in a comfortable silence along the country roads that we hoped led to my Aunt's house. We were walking at a bit that was extremely close to the forest when I saw a flash of blue in the corner of my eye. I turned but there was nothing but the shades of the forest.
"What?" Ruby asked,
"I... thought I saw something,"
"Weirdo!" She said laughing, running off as I ran to hit her, her hair was loose and whipped behind her, I let mine out and we both ran, just for fun. The air whipped at my cheeks, and sent even Ruby's paleness into a rosy pink. Soon enough we came to a split in the road where we stopped to catch our breaths. My hair fell in messy waves around my shoulders and my boots were covered in the dust from the road.
There was an old wooden signpost, one arrow for each road. One pointed to Edge Rise Manor, my Aunt's house and the other pointed to ThornWing Hall.
"Oh, I wonder where that is!" Ruby said, a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
"I don't know, we can go there on our walk if you want!" I said, equally eager to explore. It was Thursday today, which meant the day after tomorrow would be a weekend, a day where we would have a three hour walk, I knew exactly where we would be going!
We managed to make it back by 5, but Aunt Aurora wasn't in. Annika showed us to a study, and told us to do our homework. The room had a wide bay window looking out over some moors to the sea. There were two wide mahogany desks, each with a huge leather seat. There was a grand piano in one corner and a fireplace on the opposite wall.
I sat at my desk, trying to do some homework but was unable to concentrate, I couldn't help but think about my mother. I felt guilty for not having thought of her enough today, at least not as much as I felt I should have. I got up and went over to the fireplace where a fire was roaring and crackling. I traced the golden letters of my apparent family motto. There was a vase of purple, almost black roses on the mantelpiece. I stroked one of the petals and reached in to pull one out. Then I felt a prick and looked at my finger. Crimson blood welled up and ran down my finger in a long line.
"You ok Bree?" Ruby asked, sounding a little concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, uncertainly, "I think so anyway." It seemed roses were a running theme in this chapter of my life. I liked to think of my life that way. A story, with an author somewhere. When I was younger I had always played games where I was a princess and my handsome prince came to save me. Ruby and I had even played similar games, although without the Princes, by that time we realised that there was no such thing, and that if we wanted we would have to save ourselves. I imagined a candlelit room with someone hunched over a thick leather bound book, scrawling away with a fountain pen. I imagined a chapter title for today.
"Breena, why aren't you at your desk?" Aunt Aurora said as she walked into the room.
"I... I was wondering about these words, I've never heard them before,"
"A family motto you could say, anyway it is now time for your music lessons, but today I want you to go into the village and buy yourself some suitable clothes, you can't wander around in your school uniform, and I doubt you have anything coherant with my rules."
"We don't have any money though Aunt Aurora..."
"Here girl," She beckoned me over and produced a few notes, I took them, expecting to see ten pounds but infact they were all fiftys. Four of them, two hundred pounds.
"Aunt, this is too much,"
"Really? I'm sure you can find suitable clothes for that amount, they will be better than your jeans and... things," She said with a look of disgust.
I looked at Ruby, she was wide eyed.
"Be gone now, the car shall take you,"
Dear readers, I hope you liked the first two chapters of Fated Lace, and if you wish to read more, please review!
Yours Faithfully, Moonlight Enchantments