Interlude Sixteen: Classless
It was a sentence Emily had never expected to cross her mind, but this storeroom was surprising. That a room so small could contain so much had stolen her attention, and the cornucopia of objects scattered about only enhanced her sudden curiosity.
There were exactly seven mouldy, water damaged books left on the shelf right by her head. Four pencils, none the same length, sat on the third shelf from the ceiling on her right, near a packet of chalk that seemed to be slowly disintegrating. A mop, fabric turned black from age, rested against the door frame. There was some brightly coloured box on the very bottom shelf, but Emily could not get low enough to read the cursive label.
All these items meant nothing to each other, but to Emily, they were all linked by one thing: abandonment. Whoever had left all this stuff here had long forgotten about it, and the unknown stories behind each object was enough to take hold of her attention in a way that tongue working away at her vagina was unable to.
"Are you nearly done?"
Brian Stevens' deep voice was barely audible through her skirt. "Don't rush me," he grunted with his usual indignation.
"I wouldn't need to rush you if you didn't take so bloody long," Emily muttered to the room.
She left it there, allowing the awkward silence to make its unwanted returned, interrupted only by a light, rapid thumping coming from near the floor. Emily stared down at the figure embroiled in her groin and sighed. This was not what she'd had in mind for their rendezvous, but Brian had slept through his alarm and the narrow window they had before track had left them with little choice. It was better than nothing, but Emily had hoped for more. Brian wasn't as orally gifted as he seemed to think he was, and she wasn't fond of him heavy breathing into her crotch as he pumped away at himself like a steam engine.
At least he's better than he was last year. Emily tore her eyes away from the unwanted objects and stared down at the exposed edges of Brian's arse, the two sides curving down to greet one another in perfect symmetry. Give it another three months and I might have something in the broad vicinity of an orgasm.
A series of stifled groans broke the silence. Emily tensed as the movement near her thighs became faster, the thumping gaining traction. A few seconds later, Brian gasped dramatically into her legs, his groans rapidly gaining rhythm before stuttering to a finish. There was a pause, the heavy quiet that could only follow some great trauma, before Brian emerged, already wiping himself down with a tissue.
"That was amazing," he said breathlessly.
"Mmm, wasn't it?" Emily hitched her underwear back up and adjusted her skirt, giving Brian a small smile as she reached for the door. "Wake up at the first alarm next time. If I'm going to get caught in here, I want the fun to be worth the punishment."
Brian rolled his eyes the way he always did when criticised, a look that made his round, blond-framed face look even more childish. "I told you, I fell asleep writing my History essay! Miss Yanagimoto always gives us the hardest tasks."
Emily paused in the open doorway, unable to avoid the opportunity that had been handed to her on a golden platter. "I wish I knew what that felt like," she purred, and closed the door.
Her smile vanished as Emily turned and faced the cold. A brisk wind blew through the corridor and clawed its way up her bare legs. Not for the first time this morning, Emily cursed Brian and his lax attitude to everything. If they had met up earlier, she could have gone back to sleep before heading to running club, or at least been able to wear something more appropriate for the time and temperature. Instead, she was left with an hour to kill before track, with nothing to do and no orgasm to linger on.
It didn't help that this hallway was the only place they could meet. The dorms were segregated by gender with an oppressive doctrine ensuring the distance was more than physical; the Arcethian Academy was not as religious as it had once been, but that didn't mean the headmasters wanted the students fornicating at any opportunity. Emily imaged it would rather dent their reputation if every girl was in their third trimester by the end of the year.
The archaic laws meant that anyone wanting to give in to their urges had to make do with whatever random spot they could find around the school. Some headed down to the beach or pier or found a secluded spot along the shoreline, but that was too exposed for Emily's liking. Even this had not been her first option; the hallway, a bare, unexciting concrete shortcut between the courtyard and the field, was too open for her liking. She had only considered it because the security cameras were down – a discovery made by a small group of frequent smokers during the first week of term – but being on the boy's side of the building, Emily had no reason to be here if she was caught.
She had needed the distraction though, no matter how brief and unfulfilling. A second shiver spread through her that had little to do with the cold, and Emily sighed at her own desperation, that this was what she had been reduced to. "Alright Chester, we can go."
A shape moved at the courtyard end of the darkened corridor. What looked like a spiky dome rose, arms, legs and a tail spooling out from within. Once fully erect, the creature lumbered towards Emily, thick arms swinging clumsily until he was looming directly over her. The feeble light exposed his white, furry face and the cream scales that ran down his torso and legs. All that Emily was familiar with; what was new was the heavy, disparaging glower in his eyes.
"What's that look for?" she snapped. The Chesnaught said nothing, simply tilting his head towards the closet door and looking back, smirking. "Oh my god, are you judging me?"
Chester shrugged. "Ches Naw," he said in his deep grumble, smile widening.
"God I hate you sometimes," Emily growled, rolling her eyes. Yet she knew Chester had a point, and couldn't help sighing at the door herself. "Look, I know he's a bit dim, but he's hung like a Mudsdale and was the only option I had tonight, alright?"
"Naw Naw!" Chester shrieked, waving his arms in protest. He then shoved a claw into his mouth and mimed throwing up.
Emily wanted to thump him but couldn't help smiling. "Fuck you, Unsullied," she sighed and turned to leave, debating what she should do. She only made it a few metres before a column of light appeared across the courtyard.
It was followed by a deep, gravelly voice that echoed through the silent night. "It was coming from down here."
Security guards. "Fuckballs," Emily hissed and rapidly looked for an escape. She had worn her running gear with the intention of arguing she was simply heading to the track early, but she didn't want to test that lie, especially not on this side of campus.
She turned to Chester for help, but the Chesnaught had already flung open a door she had passed over in the dark. "Ches!" he growled and pulled her towards him. Emily had no idea what he was planning until he pushed her roughly through an open door; she landed in a heap at the foot of a staircase but had no time to be angry.
She jumped to her feet and fumbled for her Poké Ball as Chester quietly closed the door behind them. "Thank you," she whispered and pointed the capsule at him. She lingered long enough for him to return to the ball before running up the stairs. There was a chance the guards might hear her trainers pounding on the wood, but Emily threw all caution to the wind and focused on putting as much distance between her and them as she could.
Faux wood and dated seventies carpet passed in a blur. At the top of every flight of stairs a door and possible escape awaited her, but the first four stories were reserved for classrooms and Emily had no place being there at five in the morning. Instead, she kept running, turning so often in the narrow stairwell her started to spin, but she didn't stop until she found refuge.
At the top of the sixth flight, the stairs reached their final destination but it was where Emily needed to be. Mercifully, the door was unlocked – probably by Brian sneaking down earlier – and she stepped breathlessly into the corridor beyond. She now stood in the heart of the boy's quarters, a place arguably riskier than being found in the middle of a hallway, but Emily had no time to dwell on that. She paused only to wipe sweat from her forehead before setting off down the corridor.
All was silent. It was perhaps unexpected at this time of night, but still, Emily found it unsettling. She knew what boys were like, and every time the floor creaked, she expected someone masked by the dim light to jump out from behind a door screaming maniacally.
Thankfully, she knew where she was going. It was her first time in the boy's senior dorms, but they were the mirrored identical of the girl's, making it easier for Emily to find her way through the gloomy hallway. The only differences were a slightly warmer feel to the air and a musty like that of an uncleaned locker room. Sweat and semen, probably.
She wondered if the boys were enjoying the relative luxury of their new rooms as much as she was. After four years of living in dorms, having her own room was the number one thing Emily had been looking forward to over the summer break. Rooms a fifth of the size of the shared dorms but with the benefit of actual privacy; bathrooms that only had to be shared by ten people instead of a hundred; a thin layer of carpet that had been cleaned with some regularity; extravagant indulgences compared to the last few years.
A creak behind her jolted her from her thoughts. Emily paused, waiting for someone to appear beside her, but whatever the sound was it seemed to have passed. She carried on with extra stealth, tiptoeing quickly before her intended door, all the while repeating her lie under her breath. "It's a family emergency, I just had to come and see my brother." A feeble excuse, but one that would work given the current climate. Emily didn't want to think of what was happening back on the mainland, but that didn't mean she couldn't abuse the situation.
Finally, a glint in the distance caught her eye. Emily scampered towards it and smiled at the bronze '614' glimmering brighter than its neighbours. Of course he's polished it. Emily rolled her eyes and smirked as she turned the doorknob, not questioning why it was opening so easily. "Wakey wakey Eddie, time for – good lord!"
In a split second, Edward's face turned from relaxed pleasure to pure horror. He and Emily locked eyes for a second before the naked youth, who had had until a moment ago his mouth around Edward's groin, leapt up, momentarily subjecting Emily to her twin in all his glory. Thankfully, Edward quickly pushed his companion out of the way and threw a sheet over himself, leaving the boy exposed and trying desperately to hide his bushy erection as he scrambled about for his clothes.
Emily blinked and shook her head as if that would erase the memory. "My my, they really do give you boys special treatment. The only wakeup call we get is Matron banging on our doors."
"Oh shut up," Edward snapped as he threw a pair of briefs at the boy. "Get out, now."
"B-b-but I'm not dressed."
"NOW!"
The boy nodded obediently and sprinted for the door, covering his front with a jumbled pile of clothes but leaving his flat, hairy arse dangling as he ran past Emily. She watched him go and quietly shut the door, staring at the wood for a moment as she tried to get the image out of her mind.
"Couldn't you have found anyone a bit… smoother?" she said finally, smiling devilishly at her brother.
Edward struggled to mask his ire. "Nothing wrong with a bit of bush. Besides, I don't need any other reminders of how young he is."
"True, but I dunno; it's like, what are they hiding?"
"Do you always wake up this vulgar?"
Emily giggled malevolently. "Probably. Just remember what Professor Oak always used to say: beware of the long grass, you never know quite what's lurking in there."
"Fuck you," Edward growled, but even he couldn't help grinning at her. "So, let me guess, Brilliant Brian only lasted a few minutes and you're here to kill time before track?"
Emily pursed her lips and ignored the jibe. "When you say young, how young exactly is he? We may be in an uncivilised part of the world but I think paedophilia is illegal even in Sevii."
"He's 16, which is legal here as it is everywhere," Edward retorted. "And don't change the subject. You can't come here and mock me just because your boy toy can't keep his jizz in for more than five seconds."
Emily gasped dramatically. "Don't be so cruel! It was more like eight seconds."
"How dare I, I must apologise next time I see him."
"Don't you fucking dare!"
"Well, don't you say anything about Tobias."
"Tobias?" Emily frowned at her brother, for the first time disappointed. "What sort of twatty name is Tobias?"
"Religious, probably," Edward offered with a shrug.
"Lord have mercy on these poor idiot's souls." Emily sank into the flimsy chair that came with these narrow rooms and sighed. "How did we end up in a place like this, Eddy?"
"Um, you're the one that applied for the scholarship first, remember?" Edward rolled his eyes but copied her exasperated sigh, leaning back onto one muscular arm and scratching his armpit. "So what are you doing here?"
Emily shrugged. "Security guards came poking around. I thought it best not to see how convincing my jailbait smile is."
"So you thought instead of being caught down there, you'd risk getting caught up here?"
"I have more reason to be here." Emily spread her arms and gestured at the room. "I was going to say we've been back at school for a whole week and I haven't seen your new room yet."
Edward snorted dismissively. "Really?"
"Of course," Emily gasped dramatically. "If I hadn't come to see you, our twin powers would fade!"
"Oh no! How on earth would we read each other's minds now?" Edward flounced sideways and lay sprawled half on the floor, clutching his bare chest intensely.
The two laughed for a few moments longer before stabilising into stilted silence. Emily gazed around the room, looking for something to mock; just like her, her brother had barely decorated his room, with only a poster of Marlon above the empty desk and Lt Surge's sweating chest on the door masking the bland interior. A small pile of books sat on the desk, and Emily leant towards them. In doing so, she noticed a photo frame lying on its front. Assuming Tobias must have knocked it over in his, Emily went to right it, yet when she saw the image, she dropped it just as quickly.
Edward immediately sensed her tension and looked around. "Oh…" he mumbled, pulling himself back into bed. "Sorry, I should have mentioned I'd put that back out."
"It's fine," Emily replied quickly through clenched teeth. "It's our family; you are allowed to have a photo of them." Her eyes lingered on the decade-old image for another moment before she turned away, smiling bitterly.
Edward rolled his eyes. "What now?"
"Nothing! I said I'm fine."
"Cut the crap, bitch, I know when you're lying to me." Edward crossed his arms and flared his nostrils, as he did every time he got annoyed with her. He glared at her as though that would make Emily spill, but she held her ground, and in the silence, his bravado deflated.
"I know you don't want to talk about this or even think about it, but maybe we need to. I mean, this past week, all I've really been able to think about is what would have happened if we hadn't gone to Unova. Do you think that maybe if we had gone home, none of… you know, the stuff out there would be happening?"
If it wasn't for the sleeping boys on either side of the room, there were a million things Emily would have shouted at him right now. Instead, she merely got to her feet and lunged towards him, stabbing his sinewy pecs with her index finger. "We aren't discussing this, Edward, end of story," she hissed.
"Come on, Emily, you can't just keep pretend it's not happening. The entire school is talking about it – fuck, the whole world is talking about it. Have you picked up a newspaper in the last few days?"
"Let them bloody well talk! She got herself into this mess, it has nothing to do with us or what we did. Going home wouldn't have changed anything, and I am not going to spend the rest of the year putting up with your guilty trips, alright?"
Angry silence filled the room. The twins stared at each other with mutual defiance and resentment, their faces a mirror now more than ever, haughty eyes and thick jaws quivering back at one another.
Emily waited, knowing he would cave first, and hid her smile when his barely muscled body sank back into his pillows; a weak defeat, but one she'd take. "Are you going to come down to the field with me now?"
"Not yet. You interrupted me mid-orgasm. So if we're done fighting…" Edward smiled mischievously as he fumbled under the sheets, and a second later his boxers were flying through the air.
"Disgusting boy!" Emily shrieked, batting them away. "To think I shared a womb with you."
"The longest relationship with a man you'll ever have," Edward said, winking as his hands dived back beneath the sheets.
Emily tutted and opened the door. "Don't fucking turn me, I don't think our family can handle any more gays." And she closed it as loudly as possible, smiling at the thought of all the other revolting boys down the hallway stirring from their wet dreams.
Yet her smile only lasted a second. Emily stared at the glimmering brass number, thinking of that dear boy wanking off behind it. She loved Edward, more than she'd ever love anyone else, but this was going to test them she could already tell. With the whole world talking about it, it was going to take more than five minutes in a cupboard to take her mind off things.
Somehow, the runs never lasted as long as Emily hoped they would.
Running club was only an hour, but it was always the greatest hour of her day. It was a simple formula; meeting at six thirty every other morning at the stadium, Emily, Edward and two dozen other students ran laps around the track, circling the battlefield that sat battered and bruised beside them, surrounded by a thousand empty seats rising ominously above them.
The intention of stopping at seven thirty was so everyone had enough time to shower, change, eat breakfast, and get to their first class, but Emily would happily skip both if it meant she could just keep going.
She entered a zone when she stared running, a zone where nothing else mattered except the path in front of her. It was the only thing she had missed during the summer holidays; the rush of adrenaline that buzzed through every part of her body, the sound of her heartbeat pounding against her eardrums, the sharp cold that rushed through her nose and spread icily down her throat. If running was a drug, Emily knew they would have to cut her legs off to stop her taking it.
If only she had more than an hour. When the horn sounded inevitably, Emily had to check her watch, refusing to believe it was time already. "For fuck's sake," she hissed, startling the younger kids near her, and she surged forwards, clinging to the pain in her legs and the jolt of her feet hitting the track for as long as possible.
When she regretfully reached the end of her day's run, her one relief was the sight of a baby-faced blond man grinning at her from the side of the track. "I say this every day, Emily, but you never cease to amaze me!"
Emily's lungs felt like they had just been dry-wrung, but she still managed a broad, horny grin. "Thanks, Mr Irvine," she wheezed as he took in his strawberry blond locks and polished white teeth. He belonged in a catalogue, not standing on the side of an athletics track at eight in the morning.
A thick, pale thigh crossed her eye line, and Emily's heart sank. Pity they don't make them like him here, she thought, glowering at Brian's head as he retreated to the showers, not even looking back in acknowledgement.
She marched bitterly after him, struggling against the temptation to call out to him, to bring up his flaccid cock in front of the other jocks. Yet when he stepped into the locker rooms, Emily was left alone in the tunnel with only the sunrise ahead of her, and instantly, all her troubles melted away.
Her favourite thing about this school was the beauty it had exposed her to. The island was one of many in this archipelago, but it was still half the population of her hometown with only a fraction of the pollution. It meant that the stars could be witnessed in all their glory at night, and that the sun could rise and fall without any chemical filters disguising its splendour.
Today, the sky was a glorious mix of orange, yellow and pink, a tropical smoothie smeared across the edge of the world that was slowly seeping into the ocean-floor blue that filled the sky. It was a view unhindered by anything, the school fields empty here at the bottom of the island. Sights like this filled Emily with a magic that could not be replicated, and she wafted towards the showers with the grin of a gormless drug addict, savouring a high few got to experience.
A fist of steam hit her the second she stepped inside. Through the haze, Emily could see the showers were full already with long hair and even longer legs. She had no idea how Edward handled it surrounded by all the slim, muscular boys he tended to go for; if she was a lesbian, this would be her nirvana. Most days it felt like the set of some dodgy porno, with Emily half expecting their coach to follow them in and start giving them a spanking.
Wouldn't that be nice. Emily smiled at the thought of Mr Irvine's lean, bronzed legs dusted with a fine sprinkling of pale hairs. After a week of flirting last year, she had thought the coach was attracted to her, but the brief flirtation never went anywhere. Yet…
"What are you smiling about?"
Emily turned around, shirt halfway over her head. Long ochre legs and skinny arms stood beside her, topped with the permanent pout of her best friend Niva, raised eyebrows framing her sceptical glare.
"Just some lingering endorphins, that's all."
"Sure sweetie." Niva rolled her eyes and began undressing. "You were on fire out there today – you must have done, what, nearly thirty laps?"
Emily shrugged nonchalantly. "Thirty three, but who's counting?" Detangled from her clothes, Emily strutted towards the shower, towel wrapped around her. She could feel some of the other girls watching her as she passed, averting their eyes when Emily noticed, and she felt no shame in letting their admiration fill her with joy. Getting a sporting scholarship to Arcethian was no easy task, and Emily had been determined to make sure no one ever doubted her skills.
Yet that hadn't been natural talent on the track today. Emily's smile faded as she was swallowed by the steam, and she jumped towards the first available showerhead, desperate to escape. She turned the tap on hot, wincing at first but quickly relaxing into the sharp daggers of scorching water, finally letting her mind wander.
A cloud had been following her this morning, the same one that had lingered since she and Edward had climbed off the ferry last week. They had been disconnected all summer long; Emily had argued that they were in Unova to see the country, not share it, but really she had simply been trying to avoid thinking of home. It had been the first time they hadn't gone home for the break, and Emily knew it would only drive home the pain if they posted photos and stories every other minute.
The plan had worked right up until they walked through the assembly hall doors. When the whole school turned towards them, Emily had known right there and then they were on the outside of some massive secret. Only it wasn't a secret; once Emily was free from the prying eyes and hushed whispers, she had sat down in her new room, unable to focus on the luxury it was, and opened her laptop and there it all was. Explosions. Battles spilling out onto the street. Shattered gyms. Gods descending from the sky. She had glimpsed at news stories over the break, but to learn the truth, to learn who was at the heart of it, that the entire world now knew…
There was a scream on the tip of Emily's tongue. She had wanted to cry out since making her discovery but had resisted. The last thing she needed with everyone staring at her was to be sent for counselling. Emily had to find a way to get through this and make it to the end of the year intact. Then, she would never have to go home, she would never need to return to that house, she wouldn't have to keep feeling guilty for simply being happy. Why the fuck didn't our house just fall down completely? she thought, pushing her face right against the nozzle to mask her tears. Maybe then none of this bullshit would have ever happened.
"Hey Emily."
Emily wiped wet hair from her face and glanced around. Catherine Caldwell, as close to a rival as she had. She may be slightly slower than Emily, but she outmatched her in most other ways, made no more evident than her glistening naked body standing proudly in front of all the other girls, her long blonde hair slicked back as if purposefully styled.
"What?" Emily asked dismissively, trying not to glance at the perfectly round breasts inches from her own.
"Have you been following the news out of Saffron City? Robots bursting through the ground, dead CEOs, lunatic producers – that ringing a bell?"
Catherine had an astounding ability to completely change her voice, tone and demeanour entirely depending on how she was trying to insult you. Today, she was acting as a teacher trying to explain to a dim child what one plus one equalled, complete with condescending smile disguising the evil in her eyes.
Emily longed to bring her hand around and see how pretty Catherine looked with a swollen, reddened cheek. Instead, she merely shrugged and turned away. "Rings a bell, I suppose, but I've been a bit busy with assignments the last few days. First week back and all."
"Really? So you haven't been checking in back at home, making sure things are alright?"
"I'm sure they are fine," Emily said sweetly over her shoulder, the scream desperate to get out.
"You mean you haven't checked?" Catherine turned to her cronies and scoffed before laughing in the way only rich children seemed to. "My word, if it was my family in the middle of all this, the first thing I'd do is –"
"Well, it's not your family, is it?" Emily hadn't meant to snap; she knew how quickly gossip spread in this school. She could already imagine what the stories that would spread over breakfast, but they would be worth it to put Catherine in her place.
"Fair point, I suppose," Catherine purred. She leant in so her soaked hair brushed against Emily's back, and her voice became a whisper. "Just think though, if you had stayed back in Viridian where you belonged, maybe you could have stopped her. You just had to come here, didn't you, Charity?"
"Fuck you, Catherine. If I wanted your opinion I'd ask for it, but funnily enough, I don't give a flying fuck what some dumb little whore like you thinks."
Emily grabbed her towel from the hook and pushed past Catherine, nearly sending her sliding to the floor. The small crowd that had gathered to watch disappeared back into the steam, and anyone who had been listening outside quickly faced the lockers to avoid Emily's hunting glare as she stormed past.
"Stupid fucking bitch." Emily flung her locker open and began pulling her clothes on, ignoring the wet patches forming at her touch. Her stomach was calling out for food, but Emily would have to skip breakfast and finish showering in the senior quarters It was stupid, she knew that, but so was staying here and adding fuel to the gossip fires.
These people don't know me, they don't know my fucking family. I don't need their judgment or pity or whatever they think this is. Emily furiously slammed her locker shut and made for the door. Her clothes were already damp, and she winced as she squelched away in her sodden underwear, but it was only a temporary humiliation. This thing, this nightmare growing by the day, this was going to take longer to get past. Why are they blaming me for it? I couldn't have stopped her, I can't have done anything here. It's not my fault. None of this is my fault.
The morning classes passed in a petulant daze. Kantonese Literature was as long and slow as the book they had been assigned. Biology crawled by with the speed of a crippled Weedle. Drama was normally Emily's favourite, but today she was on edge, feeling gossiping eyes flickering towards her over the tops of scripts.
Angry, drained, bitter and hungry; the bell for lunch couldn't come soon enough. When it finally rang, Emily got up before most of the class had even moved, and, ignoring Miss Cathie's protests, charged for the door. She half expected to stumble into the security guards again, but the corridor was empty; it seemed the rest of the school was allowing her a momentary respite. It wouldn't last though; Emily could hear the distant crash of the incoming wave, and soon a tsunami of arrogant assholes would be upon her.
They're not here yet. Holding on to that thought, Emily stepped over the low wall that separated the ground floor classrooms from the courtyard. She walked into the centre and looked upwards.
The skies shone a periwinkle blue. Chirping Wingull hovered in place of clouds. A gentle breeze wafted over the grounds from one edge of the island to the other. With a sigh, Emily exhaled. This is truly paradise. Having grown up in the muggy, murky weather of Viridian, the temperate heat and constant clear skies had been a shock to the system when she had first arrived in Sevii. Now, Emily wouldn't have it any other way. It was half the reason she had spent her summer in Unova; the thought of trading this weather, this beauty, for the misery that hung over that city, there simply had been no choice.
"What the fuck are you doing, Charity?"
And now we're back to Earth. With her head tilted back, Emily could not see the swarm of students joining her in the courtyard, but she could sense them, dozens of them closing in like hunters circling their prey, only with a more blasé attitude. She could hear Catherine and her friends giggling as they stalked by, but she ignored the bait and stared at the skies. Only when their sniggers had faded away did Emily set off, pushing through the younger students who had already sprawled out over the cobblestones.
If the weather was what kept her here, all this was what made Emily long for home. The hierarchy, the tradition, the claustrophobia, with no better representation than this oversized courtyard. The rectangle was enclosed on three sides by the U-shaped main building, keeping them all penned in like Miltank; Emily's eyes skirted along the edges as she soldiered by, taking in all six stories of crimson brick and cream trimmings. It didn't help the colours were reflected in the uniforms as though to try home their internment; white shirts with gold trimming for girls, blood red for boys, grey pants and skirts for all.
The students who gathered here every break were the ones Emily despised. You only hung out here if you were desperate to be seen, yet in an island roughly the same size as Pallet Town, most of the occupants wanted to be here, parading themselves in front of the entire school. Emily could understand the desperation behind their thinking; when you're trapped in one building together for roughly thirty five weeks of the year, trying to carve out your own place in it is a natural response. Yet it was these students that turned it abnormal, morphed this into some classist, contradictory challenge of trying to fit in and stand out at the same time. Emily had no idea how some of these people had the brain capacity to process such conflict.
Thankfully, she never stayed here for long. It was a walk to get there, but finally the building came to an end, the courtyard ran out of the stone, and nature reclaimed the land. To Emily, stepping away from the shadow of the school always felt like shedding a cloak; the darkness and shadows were replaced by sunshine and open space, the whole world unfurling before her. Here, almost a kilometre of gently sloping field stood spread freely between the school and the stadium with nothing in between. Emily stared around at the small groups of students scattered randomly across the green; how these fields remained empty day after day she would never know.
"You better not be heading off without me."
Emily turned towards the shriek and smiled. "You'll have to hurry the fuck up then," she shouted back at Niva,.
"Are we not waiting for Eddie and Davey?"
"Nope," Emily said firmly. She hitched her bag over her one shoulder and took off, cutting a diagonal path through the grass. "They know where we'll be."
Niva walked briskly by her side, long arms swaying comically as always. "Are you and Eddie fighting?"
"Nope, I'm just in no mood to wait." Emily flashed her friend a smile and carried on in silence. Niva knew her well enough not to question this temporary mood, and the brief tension eased off as they made their way towards the beach.
A 'beach' was a generous if accurate term for the heap of sand scattered on the right side of the island. A stretched out golden crescent nestled at the bottom of a short but jagged ledge, it only offered a few metres of earth before the ocean reclaimed the land. It had just enough space for the few wild Pokémon that nested there, which was the reason why it was technically forbidden.
But that had never stopped Emily. She kicked off her shoes and flopped down on the verge, letting her bare feet dangle a few feet above the sand. She checked to make sure no teachers were nearby before pulling her lunch out and casting her bag aside. Even if someone caught them, only a family of Poliwag and Poliwhirl, gathered around a pair of Poliwrath patriarchs, were in sight.
"Did you get any breakfast in the end?" Niva asked as she sat down beside Emily.
"Nope," Emily replied through a mouthful of potato salad. She always cooked herself meals at the start of each month in case of emergencies, and this morning had been as big of one as she ever faced. "You want some?"
"Fuck no, you always over-flavour everything, that shit smells ghastly." Niva gagged in order to prove her point before shrieking with laughter. Emily expected the Poliwag to look around, but the aquatic family stayed in their stoic positions, oblivious to the pair above.
Emily managed a few more mouthfuls before accepting Niva was right. She shoved the mayonnaise drenched container aside and sighed. "Can you believe we've only been one week? I'm ready for another holiday already."
"I bet," Niva mumbled with unaccustomed casualness.
The mood changed instantly. "What do you mean?" Emily asked quietly.
Niva paused in her sandwich, only now realising what she'd said. She swallowed and put her lunch aside, drawing the process out as though that would make the moment pass. When it didn't, she ran a hand through her spiky hair and cautiously met her friend's eye. "I just mean… after what you learnt last week, I can imagine that – that that was quite a shock. And those things can take a toll on someone, especially something like that. I mean, god, if we had known about this before Unova, I don't think we – "
"We would have what?" Emily asked coldly. "Gone on holiday? Is that what you were going to say?"
"Well… yeah. I mean, what could we have –"
Emily screamed. She realised as the sound passed violently through her lips what was happening, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. Why did none of these people understand? Why did they all assume she should feel guilty about it? Why couldn't they see that all she felt was guilt, that that was the sole reason she hadn't gone home?
"Fuck, Emily, what the hell is going on?"
"I'll tell you what's going on!" Emily swung her legs around and leapt up; she quickly cast her eyes around the field but it was mercifully empty, with only the shadows of two clouds coming anywhere close to them. "I have spent the last week listening to everyone telling me how sorry they are for my family, how worried they all are, and those are the nice people. Everyone else just wants to know if I know anything, if they should all be worried that another war is starting. The simple answer is I don't know and I don't fucking care. I don't care what my sister is doing with the robots and the psychopaths and all the gods. That's her fucking life, I don't want a single part of it.
"You know I didn't want to go home during summer? Because I cannot stand being in that house. My father sitting on the couch all day like some bloated Dewgong. My mother rushing around smiling as if everything's fine. My little brother wanting us to stay. I'd love to stay for him, but it's everything else I hate. You have no idea what a shithole my house is since the earthquakes. It's like living inside a corpse, and everywhere you look you get reminded of how this once perfect vessel was murdered by some arrogant, megalomaniac cunt.
"Um, Emily, I think you should –"
"But you know the worst part?" Emily bellowed, cutting over Niva. "It's always my fucking sister. She barely says a word to me and Edward the whole time we're there, and if she does, it's just loaded with resentment and bile and hatred. She hates us because we managed to get out of there before it happened but didn't come back when everything went shit, as if we owed her some great debt. I don't want to subject myself that, so I didn't, but I guess with me to glower at, the selfish little bitch had to go and glower at the whole fucking region."
"Wow, sis, tell me how you really feel."
Emily fell silent immediately, the words catching in her throat. Finally, her biggest fear come true. Those weren't clouds, were they? She had seen she was heading to Fuchsia, she should have known that she might come this way, but Emily had hoped, prayed, pleaded that she wouldn't be so spiteful that she would bring her bullshit to her doorstep.
But of course she is. Emily stared at the ocean, part of her wondering if she could not just run forwards and dive in and keep swimming until she reached somewhere else. Her sister would catch her though, she knew that, there didn't seem to be and stopping her. There was only one thing left to do. Might as well rip this band aid off, Emily thought, seething with fury, and she forced herself to turn around before she questioned it.
It was like looking in a fun house mirror, one designed to shrink the beholder. Yet her sister was not as short as she had been the last time Emily had seen her; she was barely shorter than her now, her long, unkempt hair adding to her height. Her face was older now as well, more filled out without the puppy fat she'd once had. The scattering of scars was new, the impressive collection resembling something stolen from a much older war victim. Behind her, a tawny bird clawed at the ground, watching Emily from the corner of her sharp eyes darkened by experience, the once joyful, enthusiastic creature that had twittered around their roof long vanished.
Emily said nothing. There were so many things she had wanted to say, she had dreamt them on loop for the past week; apologies, defences, rebuttal. There was so much she wanted to say, but now that they were here, her mouth was suddenly dry. She licked her teeth with her heavy tongue and managed to prise her mouth open. "Hello, Alaska."
"Emily." Despite the ominous darkness that seemed to imbue her every pore, Alaska managed to smile, the same wicked grin Emily had known all her life, her own in miniature. "Aren't you going to give your sister a hug?"
