I'm expecting a lot of cheering in this chapter. New rule: If you cheered at any point or verbally shouted something along the lines of 'yes!' or even audibly went 'aww!', then you are legally and morally obligated to say so by posting a review. This chapter had 1,285 words written beforehand, and it now has 1,878. You ought to be thanking me, really.
Thank you for reading!
"Jiminy Cricket." Ephemer cursed, "Ira's coming this way."
Anora's confusion quickly turned into one of horror. Even if Ira catching Ephemer and Anora together wouldn't have been unusual, it would have become more than obvious that something happened between them by the way she was dressed. Never minding the fact that she was holding a small pile of her clothes in hand too. If they were caught like this by a fellow student, they probably could have gotten away without too much of a fuss. There would be rumors, sure, but nothing that could actually stop them from being together again later.
But Ira? Ira was the last person that would grant any kind of mercy if he caught them. Ephemer's heart was basically his brain at this point, which meant that he would only say something that would make the situation worse. Anora would probably be expelled. For a hot second, Ephemer considered pulling Anora into a tight kiss and prayed that Ira wouldn't notice them. But then he realized that even if he tried a fake-out make-out, he knew darn well that Ira would still recognize him. Anora would possibly also die from embarrassment, and Ephemer really didn't want that to happen. What was he going to...
"Headmaster Ira!"
"Oh, hello there Skuld."
"Skuld?" both Ephemer and Anora questioned under their breath. Ephemer was the only one who could peek to be sure. Sure enough, there was Skuld, looking like she had just gotten out of the shower and put her clothes on rather haphazardly. She made a quick glance in their direction before turning her attention back to Ira.
"What can I help you with?" Ira calmly asked.
"Oh, I was just wondering if you would join me for breakfast!" the teen smiled. Genuinely surprised, Ira took a small step back.
"Do you not usually have breakfast with Ephemer?"
"Oh, I think he slept in this morning. And I happened to run into you, so I thought I'd ask you instead!"
"Well, if that's the case..." Ira decided, motioning for Skuld to follow him. But there was a different plan in Skuld's head formulating.
"Can we take the long way?" Skuld then asked. "The leaves are just so nice this time of year."
If Ira was becoming suspicious, he certainly didn't show it easily. "Very well, then." he agreed. "Let's take the long way."
Skuld gave a bright smile as she purposely lead Ira away from Ephemer and Anora.
"Come on." Ephemer told Anora as he took her hand. "Skuld just saved our hides. Remind me to kiss her later."
Anora gave a quick nod- making a note to do so as well.
The two were running in unison now, and going at a much faster pace than before. As the Vulpes girls' dorms came closer into view, that was when Ephemer decided to ask,
"What floor are you on?"
The immediate answer was one of the ones the boy feared; "The sixth."
"Of course you are..." Ephemer grumbled under his breath as his eyes trailed up the dorm's exterior. The sixth floor was all but in the middle of the building. Everyone knew that the middle floors saw the most foot traffic. It was going to take a miracle for them to get it without getting caught. What were they going to do?
. . .
Strelitzia had waited all night for Anora to come back. A part of her knew, and a part of her feared, what had transpired the night before. All of those fears compounded when she saw Anora and Ephemer sprint over to the Vulpes dorms. She had a choice, you know, to just walk away and pretend she didn't see them. She could have even called Ava and ratted the new couple out if she so darn well pleased.
But she didn't do either of those things.
Instead, Strelitzia ran out to meet them halfway. Before either could gasp her name in surprise, Strelitzia took Ephemer by the hand (who, in turn, pulled Anora along with him) and forced the two off to the side.
"Strelitzia," Ephemer finally rasped, "We need to..."
"I know." she replied, cutting him off before he could finish. Her voice lowered before telling them, "You'll need to use the fire escape. A lot of girls are already awake. If you can get to the sixth floor, I'll make sure no one's around so you can head straight to Anora's dorm."
Visible relief washed over Ephemer's face. "You're amazing Strelitzia." Ephemer sighed. "If this works out, remind me to add you to the list of girls I need to kiss in thanks."
"You have a…?" Strelitzia started to question before shaking her head. "Never mind. We're running out of time."
"Right." Ephemer quickly agreed before taking a firm hold on Anora's hand again. Strelitzia watched as the two departed. Despite herself, a small smile appeared on her face before remembering that she needed to help them.
The young woman did her absolute best to walk back into the dorms as inconspicuous as possible. Her mind was already trying to figure out how she was going to stop most of the traffic flow on the sixth level. The elevator would be the trickiest part. The doors leading to the stairwell would be easy, and if luck permitted, so would temporarily blocking the doors to the dorms themselves.
Strelitzia took the elevator up. Since it was the biggest hindrance, she needed to scope out her chances now. As luck would have it, the custodian had left behind a broom. Maybe they used it to sweep at the cobwebs at the top of the elevator ceiling? Either way, Strelitzia did some experimenting on the ride up to the sixth floor. When the elevator opened, she placed the broom just so that when the elevator door closed behind her, the broom handle knocked over and pressed the hold button. That would stop the elevator until someone realized it wasn't coming when called- that only left the other doors.
What luck would have it that the locks were located on the hallway side, and not the stairwell side? Luck that Strelitzia knew was practically bending itself for this moment, surely. She took care in making sure she didn't set an alarm off. Did those doors even have alarms on them? With a thought for later squirreled away, Strelitzia made sure the stairwell doors were locked before looking down the hallway. Almost all of the girls had gone down to breakfast. She hadn't seen them, but it seemed right.
As she quickly made her way to the fire escape door, Strelitzia knocked on a few doors to make sure no one was in their room. Horror quickly struck when two girls did answer their door. Strelitzia didn't know what she said to them, but they ended up going back into their room without a second thought. This interruption caused a jump start in Strelitzia's adrenaline- she rushed over to the fire escape entrance so fast, and opened the door so quickly, that she almost smacked Ephemer in the face.
The young woman barely looked at them as she said, "I did what I could." Then she turned to Ephemer and informed him, "I've marked my door. Anora's room is to the right of mine."
Ephemer gave her a nervous nod of his head -his hair bobbing slightly in turn- before leading himself and Anora into the dorms. The three of them paced over to Anora's dorm on their tip-toes. Anora handed Ephemer her room key when they were just steps away. He took it, quickly fumbled with the lock, then dove inside the room without a second guess. When Strelitzia assumed that Anora would do the same, the younger of the two went up to Strelitzia and carefully slipped her hands into the other girl's hands.
"Thank you." she whispered. As much as she didn't want to, Strelitzia gave a small smile in return. She squeezed Anora's hands tight.
"Anything for you." she replied, sincere and honest, and just a tad bit heartbroken. Anora returned the favor with a smile of her own, before reaching to give Strelitzia a small peck on the forehead. The older of the two blushed, letting go of Anora's hands, and allowing the younger to finally slip into her room.
As Anora shut the door behind them, Ephemer let out a relieved sigh before doing a light jig around her room.
"We made it!" he all but cheered. When he had his moment, Ephemer then started to look around her room in curiosity. His face fell in disappointment. "Wow," he found himself remarking, "Skuld wasn't kidding. Your dorm is small. Compared to mine, any way."
He turned to Anora, who was still standing at the door, and smiled at her.
"Maybe next time I'll spend the night here." he told her, half joking and half not. "That way we won't almost get caught by Ira again."
Anora smiled.
"I'd like that." she admitted in a small voice.
Ephemer's heart leaped into his throat as a big, rather goofy looking, smile etched onto his face. He walked over to her and put her hands into his. The two stared into each other's eyes, not quite wanting the other to leave yet. There was an itch, an inkling, of wanting so much more that neither could fully describe. They instead pressed their foreheads together and gave time for the moment sink in.
"I love you." Ephemer admitted. Anora didn't give a direct response; instead, she tilted her chin a bit to lead them into a kiss. Ephemer immediately wrapped his arms around her waist to steady himself, while she brought her arms around his neck. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but to them, it had felt like an eternity.
Ephemer was the first to pull away. "Well, I guess I have to go now." he decided, despite taking no immediate action in doing so. It was Anora who took a step back, allowing him to leave. At first, Ephemer made small shuffles toward the door, his gaze unwavering as he continued to softly stare at Anora. The door handle jabbing him in the side snapped him out of his trance enough to turn around to open the door.
Of course he stole one last look at Anora before leaving proper. And of course he gave her a wide, stupid grin in complete adoration. Had it not been for Strelitzia on the other side of the door, he probably would have gotten caught with his head poking into Anora's room. After he shut the door behind him, and the sounds of Strelitzia smuggling him back over to the fire escape, Anora moved over to her window to see if she could spot Ephemer leaving the dorms.
She recognized him almost immediately and laughed when she did. The fleeing Ephemer looked more like he was late for a class than trying to hide the fact he had come out of the girls' dorms. Filled with glee, Anora hugged herself before flopping onto her bed. She had to get ready for classes soon- but a part of her just didn't care. Being in love was far more enjoyable.