Chapter 27: Holydays part 3

The next day I want to head to the mall, but after yesterday's incident… While I wander the halls, I come across Potsdam.
"Good morning, Darling. Why're you not at the mall?", she chirps. I tell her about Damien's letter. "Oh my, don't worry about that, you still have your knight in shining armor. Who will have to accompany you, of course.", she happily exclaims. "This is the perfect opportunity for you to spend some time!"
What does she think will happen, if the other students see me strolling around with Grabiner?! This woman doesn't possess any common sense at all!
"What about the other students?", I remind her calmly. "Yeah, it's true. You won't be able to fully enjoy your date, since you can't be seen together. However! He can still stay near you!", Potsdam dramatically replies. She… is really enthusiastic about this. "Ah, secret lovers, shunned by society. It's so beautiful.", she continues while holding her cheeks, her eyes strangely shining. She really needs to stop reading so many romance novels. Or stop taking drugs, or something.
"Will it really be safe for me to go?", I ask her, still skeptical. "The mall may be off-campus, but it is still under my protection, cupcake. The magical employees of the mall agreed to enhance their wards a bit, and we have added some more precautions against enchanted mail. With Hieronymus' special protection, in addition to the usual protection of the adults there, you should be safe." I'm surprised to hear that. I knew, that Potsdam has some kind of reputation and power in the magical world,
but I didn't know, that her influence on the magical shop and the Glen would be that big. I agree to head to the mall, since I want to buy a dress for the May Dance.

I go with Grabiner's van, together with a snake girl and a toad boy. The snake girl is a freshman like me. We're the last to depart, the most students are already at the mall. I directly head towards a clothing store, selling formal wear. Ugh, these dresses are so expensive! Good thing I took my whole money with me this time…
But I'm really unwilling to spend so much money on a dress, which I'm probably not even going to wear. I ignore the color of the dresses, even though a lot of them don't suit my hair color, since I can alter the color of the dress with black magic. I choose a long dress, which is bright red with black embroidery covering my chest and shoulders. The color doesn't suit my hair, but the dress should look nice on me in dark green, or dark blue. I cry internally, while paying the 95$.
Oh well, even if I don't enjoy the May Dance, I should be able to wear this dress sometime. Given that my life here will continue after the May Dance… After spending so much money on the dress, I'm not in the mood to waste more money, but there is still time, before the first van drives back.
As I leave the store, I spot Grabiner, reading his book, while sitting on a bank nearby and sipping a coffee from time to time. So he really stayed near… that means he is probably extremely annoyed, because of me, right? He looks a bit annoyed, right now. Maybe I was too selfish of me to come here. Well, it's too late to change my mind now. I head to the supermarket, to buy some packs of simple hairclips, before spending the rest of my time in the bookstore. This is way he should be able to stay near me, without growing too bored. I randomly browse the bookshelves. The bookstore even has an international section, with books in other languages.
They have books in Spanish, French, Italian, and … German! Among the German books is the book 'The swarm'. I have read it in my last life, so I decide to purchase it.
I already know what it's about, so it should be easier to read. This will be a good practice for my German. Soon it's time to head back to the academy and I drive in Grabiner's van again.

I spend the evening reading my new book, using the dictionary from time to time to help me translating. The next day, I attend another handicraft course, and we spent it building bird houses as promised. After that I alter the color of my new dress using black magic, by turning the satin-part from bright red to dark blue.
The dress is a bit dark for a ball and I'm still thinking of adjusting the blue part to a brighter blue. Maybe I can make the color brighter on top, slowly becoming darker towards the bottom. But for now, I'm going to leave it as it is. The rest of my holydays I spent in the gym, reading my books, practicing the spells I already learned and attending another handicraft session. This time we were making clay figures and we were also allowed to use black magic for this.
I didn't meet Grabiner for another time, so he probably completely shut himself in his room for the whole time. Hikkikomori, much? He has a job though… Ellen and Virginia finally came back on Sunday, and we talked about our holydays. Pastel also visited Virginia, I'm starting to feel like an outcast, since Virginia didn't invite me over yet. Well, she is rather insensitive by nature, so she probably didn't even notice that I'd like to visit her as well. I shouldn't take it personally.
While Virginia rambled on, on how she fought with a bear in the woods (the heck?), Ellen looked a bit… shy. Oh? Did she enjoy her holydays with Donald?
I wonder how Virginia could've missed it, if they were flirting. But then again… this is Virginia, I'm talking about after all. And both, Ellen and Donald can be quite sneaky. He is the king of pranks, and she joined a secret organization in the game under certain circumstances.