"You can't tell anybody Vi." That was the sum of Viola's last first day of school. Vi had gotten to Yvonne's by nine and had stayed there, attempting to work through everything until one. Mostly Vi had, after getting over her shock, told Yvonne that everything would be okay, which is what Yvonne needed at the moment. At one Vi left, having accomplished very little, when Yvonne realized that she had spent the entire day crying, which oddly enough led to more crying.
Vi climbed in to her car and headed back to Illyria. She couldn't even tell Paul, that is how serious Yvonne was, because Paul was way better at things like this than Viola. When Viola got back to Illyria it was only quarter after one, and there was one sure fire way to not get in trouble: suck up to Gold.
And it was off to Gold's office that she headed. Looking at the clock in the office Vi knew she would be late but Gold would be saving her ass. It was right here that Vi had met Olivia, even if she had been pretending to be her brother at the time. Thinking of how she was going to explain her day to Olivia was not going to be pretty.
"Principle Gold?" Viola asked knocking on the Head Master's door. This wouldn't be too bad, Gold liked her, he would give her an excused absence slip and send her on her way.
"Viola Hastings," Principle Gold drawled opening the door to his office. The tall, if slightly paunchy, bald man in front of her hardly fit the part of boarding school Head Master. And he was weird to boot. "It is Viola I am speaking to, not your brother, again, right?" Gold laughed at his own feeble joke.
Vi forced a smile and a laugh. She heard the same thing from him every time they spoke, and he still thought it was funny. "Yes its, me Head Master. I was wondering if you could write me a pass. I wasn't feeling very well after my Physics class and now that I feel better I need to go to my PE class," Vi explained hoping he would not question her.
Gold looked at Viola like a hawk watching its prey. You never knew what Gold would do, he was very unpredictable. Gold removed his glasses, letting Vi stew, and cleaned them on his 'candy apple red' tie before pacing them on his beak-like nose again.
"Well, alright. I suppose I can write you a pass this time Ms. Hastings," the Head said taking a slip out of his desk and filling out the essentials. "I do like to look out for the transfer students. I did tell you I was once a transfer student, didn't I?"
"Yes sir, you have told me. Thank you very much sir," Vi said getting up from the seat she had taken and quickly leaving the office. Viola managed to contain her happy dance until she was outside.
Vi sprinted to the locker room to change before heading to PE, and an Olivia to whom she couldn't explain half the things that had happened. Wrestling her shirt on Vi's phone rang with Barbie Girl. Jamming her head in to the correct hole Vi answered the phone.
Shrieking met her ears. Kia was the only person who was able to meet that decibel. "Kia, slow down. Repeat. And breathe," Vi ordered her ditzy friend. She had no doubt this was about the same thing Yvonne had needed her for, but she was sworn to secrecy.
Kia calmed down, relatively speaking, enough to explain why she called. Kia, surprisingly, explained the situation better than four hours with Yvonne had. After extracting a promise of Viola's presence after school and of her silence, why that was such a precious thing to her friends Vi didn't know, Kia let Viola off the phone.
How does one deal with two friends, on different ends of the same problem? And without telling one or the other what you know from the other? Vi found herself wishing she was Sebastian, again, because her brother never had problems like these.
Viola walked her way slowly to the gathered PE students. Olivia, blonde hair shining in the sunlight, was clearly visible. Vi gulped, she was not looking foreward to that conversation.
The explanation to the PE coach was nothing. And when the coach told Vi to 'take it easy today' she had to bite back the retort of 'I wish.' Vi squared her shoulders and walked over to her waiting girlfriend.
"Where have you been all day?" Olivia asked Viola as soon as she was within range. Of course that would be the first question, and the answer would be zero for one.
"Skipping school every once in a while is good for you," Vi said forcing a grin. She was quoting Olivia's favorite book Twilight to convince her girlfriend that nothing was wrong.
"Oh, okay," was the puzzled reply from the blonde girl. It was easy to see that Olivia didn't believe Vi's avoidance tactic and still wanted the truth. "What have you been doing then?"
And zero for two. "Can't tell you. Double crossed pinky promise," Vi said by way of explanation. The Double cross pinky promise was a hold over from Yvonne and Vi's childhood. Both girls would take both pinkies of the other with their own and then the pair would cross their arms.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Right so I think this chapter was rubbish. Nothing to say here. *Announcer Voice* Will Olivia drop the matter? How will Olivia deal with Vi jetting off, again? And where has Malcolm been these past five chapters? All this and more on our continuation of How the Chips Fell. And now an test of the emergency review system. .ThisIsMeerlyATestOfTheEmergencyReviewSystem:PleaseReviewPleaseReviewPleaseReview…