Now
Ethan slapped a hand on the couch cushion and scowled. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"That's your argument? You're only proving my point by getting defensive." Hayley shoved away and paced.
"I took the damn test Gillies. I know what it said. If you're going to doubt the mind of our creator well then there's the door."
"To my own apartment." Hayley heard the shrill in her voice and fought for calm. "God. You're cracked."
"Says the one doubting our creator!"
"I am not doubting her. I am stating that by facts, there may have been an error."
"The map never lies, the test is built the same, and you can't convince me otherwise."
"Because I'm younger?" Now Hayley advanced back to the couch. "If you say it's because you've been in this longer, I swear to…"
"You haven't been studying as long is all….." The rest of his words were in a muffle as a pillow was yanked up and thrown over him. "Smothering me won't change your lack of know how."
"But it'll sure feel good." Hayley leaned back. "Stubborn jackass."
"Sounds like a Gryffindor to me." Ethan pat her knee. "Don't worry darlin, I'd be wound tight too if I'd been sorted into Ravenclaw."
"Ravenclaw is a wonderful house. They all are. My suggesting you share a lot of traits with Hufflepuff is not an insult."
"Of course not. Anna is one. And I shouldn't poke at Ravenclaw's seeing as Cole is. The insult is accusing me and good ol JK of not knowing my house."
"Fine fine." Hayley reached for a mozzarella stick and tore it in half, offering it. "Truce?"
They clicked the halves once and Ethan smirked. "Not going to do a dance over Cole being Ravenclaw?"
"I thought he'd be Gryffindor. Maybe I do need to brush up. A little." She qualified. "Each of you being in different ones is surprising I suppose."
"Was to us too. Pottermore came out right when Anna and Cole were wrapping up college. We figured we had to all be Gryffindor. With how our lives went down, and us being similar to the trio, c'mon." Ethan grinned. "Anna was so pissed."
"But it fits. Well. Except you." Hayley accepted the shoulder bump, and leaned back on the couch. "What about Caroline? Was she around for that?"
Ethan nodded, his grin lowered. "Caroline and Sy got the same house."
Hayley quirked a brow. "Slytherin."
"Now, don't get prejudice."
"So Sylas was back by then."
"Yes and no. Round two?"
Hayley clicked her phone and peeked at the readout. "We have a few more hours before I need to go in."
"We'll see how far we get. There are some things, I want to shield her from telling. There are others I hope she'll share. But their round two, that's simple enough. She wrote him letters, just as they had been. I think it was once a week at first and then she'd keep it to when she felt she had something to share that he would enjoy or reminded her of him. That was after she knew he wasn't going to respond. She did that for six years."
"Without any replies?"
"The letters never came back, so she hoped they were at least getting to him. She didn't know for sure for a long while. But yeah, she kept at it. When we met her, it wasn't too long after that she told us the same story I told you. She shrugged off the letters, said it was just something simple she could do to cheer up a fellow loner." Ethan laughed once. "Such a liar."
"I'm not sure. I think she would have done it for anyone even if they had been just a fellow loner."
"You're not wrong. After a while it turned into make believe for her. She'd say 'I'm sending a letter to the Jolly Roger on this day, sure hope it's a comfort for these hard times at sea.' or something like that. And if I'm being honest Cole and I never paid it much mind. She was ok, there wasn't a reason to dig deeper. But then, he came back. His father had gotten worse and he decided he wanted to be where he grew up. So when the latest lease was up on Sylas's grandparents house they moved in. I didn't know all that then of course. All I knew is one day in February a new student walked into our English class.
"Was it Valentine's Day?" Hayley caught the sigh and cleared her throat. "I'm never this cheesy. Does this story turn action anytime soon?"
"Oh kid. You haven't figured it out yet? That's not my part to tell."
Then
Every life has a set of moments that help shape what follows. How we choose to react to those moments ripple out more than we realize. In room 302 of Forks High School, a tenth grade English class was filling up awaiting after the final bell's song. No one in that class thought the day to be anything special. There wasn't a quiz they were stressing or a football game that night they were looking forward to. And still, it was the day that more than one life changed.
In the middle of the grouping of desks, Anna Jane continued her word scramble while reaching a hand up for the bottled frappachino that Ethan passed her. He took his spot at the desk diagonal of hers, and proceeded to flirt with the girl to his left. When the teacher came in and started the day, Anna was eagerly attentive, while Ethan was eagerly attempting a Saturday night movie date. So the feeling took that extra second to wash over him.
Anna however, idly thumbed the pages of the play the class was studying and looked over to see the principal knocking. Giving her attention back to the play, her stomach jittered a moment in what at the time she wrote off as a tenseness whenever an authority figure was near. She should have recognized the similarity to how she felt trying to sleep the night before Christmas.
Mr. Viack walked over to the principal and nodded at the student just behind them. He then got the classes attention.
"Ok everyone, settle down. We have a new student starting today, let's pretend to be a classroom of manners."
Offering her smile, Anna glanced back towards the doorway. The boy sure was tall. His brown hair was long, falling to his shoulders. He didn't seem particularly interested in his first new class of the day, but gave a solemn smile as he glanced around. Anna felt a clutch again. It was as though her body knew what was happening a second before she did. His glance trailed past her, before his eyes snapped back, and held hers.
It was a beat of time. Too short to be noticed by anyone except them, and the other who felt what passed over the air. Ethan watched as the new guy sized up the room, only to freeze at Anna. He watched his oldest friend, who had always been pretty laid back, transform from excited to serene and then as the new student looked away Anna nodded as if to scold herself.
"This is Sylas Bruan. Be welcoming would you?" Mr. Viack gestured to the empty seats and turned back to the front of the room.
Sylas walked over to the desk closest to the door, and sat without another look towards Anna. She too hadn't looked back, except to cross her eyes at Ethan when he finally caught her glance. But it was enough for Ethan to question.
The class was over for only seconds before he pounced.
"Well?"
Though her eyes narrowed at the tone, she kept hers easy. "I'll be happy when we've moved on to Shakespeare." She replied and then muttered when Ethan blocked her way. "Sometimes Mommy finds boys attractive and takes a gander, it's nothing for you to worry about."
"Now I've seen you check a guy out Shine, but this was a whole other thing." For safety he shouldered her bag so she couldn't take off further than the hallway. "Well." He repeated.
"You remember my letters to the boy that stayed at the Grand a couple summer trips?"
"The ones you 100% still write from time to time, yeah I remember."
"That's him."
"That's….the new guy?!" Ethan let out a breath as Anna's elbow connected.
"Yes, but I don't expect he remembers that, so there's no need to be loud."
"The look you two had says otherwise."
"It says sometimes the boys find me attractive right back, who could blame him." She did a shoulder wiggle as she yanked her bag back. "But if he remembered he would have…..doesn't matter. It was just a couple visits when we were kids, of course he doesn't remember. He never even wrote back after the last."
"Anna…."
She looked up with a smile. "It's ok. I'm curious as to why he's here of course, but I'm sure the school will have the whole report soon enough. If you make friends with him, or steer him in the direction of the right group that'd be nice. He used to be a shy boy, I don't know if he grew out of it. But leave me out, ok?"
"You're embarrassed." Ethan realized with surprise.
"A little." But she shrugged it off. "I've thought the letters weren't getting to him for a while now, and figured he didn't remember me. But when I saw him. I guess I forgot that for a moment. Silly." She shrugged again and nodded to her next class. "I ought to get in. Don't worry so much, there's a lot of people who have come in and out of the Grand, he's just another."
But as Ethan watched her walk away, he knew it was the first time she wasn't being entirely truthful to him.
After he got into his own class and the teacher began, Ethan mulled it over for a few minutes. That year they weren't grouped into any classes all three of them, so it was safe to say they spent their days creatively working around that. For that period, Cole was down the hall and Ethan didn't see a reason to wait much longer. He raised his hand and asked for the hall pass. As he passed the door window of Cole's class, he searched a moment before he found him and jerked his head towards the bathrooms without waiting for Cole's answering gesture.
When Cole joined him, he shook his head. "If this is to brag about a new date achieving record I don't want to hear it."
"You heard about the new kid yet?"
"Bruan? He's in my class now. You switching teams? I'll support you."
Ethan ignored him and leaned a hip on the sink. "He's the one she wrote those letter to. The kid from the Grand."
"Rich boy? Wow. Wasn't he only here for his grandparent's funeral?"
"I think, and another visit for the house maybe. Long time to wait to move back if they liked the area. You hear a scoop?"
"Stevenson made him do the old stand and tell us about yourself. He said he just moved to the area. Only child. Looking forward to checking out our baseball team."
"He and Anna had a Tony and Maria moment when he got to class. She's playing it different, but that's what it was."
"No kidding." Cole knocked against the wall. "He talk to her?"
"Nope. She thinks he doesn't remember and was only checking her out."
"You think different?"
"I don't think I've looked at anyone that way and I've checked out my fair share. And I've never seen her look like that. Or be flustered when I brought it up."
"Hmmmm."
"My thoughts exactly." Ethan agreed. "She asked me not to mention her if he and I meet."
"But if he mentions her….."
Ethan pointed to his nose and back at Cole. "Just keep the ears perked and so will I." He clapped Cole on the back as they moved to the door.
The plan they had proved to be unnecessary in the weeks that came. Sylas adjusted to the new school but never asked about Anna. Never looked at her like he had that first day. And she responded in kind. But as the boys were watching, they noticed a bit more. Whether Sylas remembered Anna or not wasn't a concern when it was obvious to any who really looked that something often passed between them.
It wasn't all that dissimilar to how the three were around each other. Forks had grown accustomed enough to Ethan, Anna, and Cole's radar when one entered the room, or looking over as if hearing something, only to communicate without words. Being accustomed as they were may be a reason why word never seemed to get around about the oddness between the new student and the three friends.
The rumor mill didn't pump out much about Sylas. Bella Swan, a junior, was drawing more attention as a new student. And Sylas seemed glad of that. He frequented the baseball jocks, and traveled to Port Angeles often for music shows. Other than that, he laid low.
Anna and Sylas didn't even speak to one another until April of that term. Mr. Viack, had been a diehard believer that Shakespeare's works couldn't be read and understood, they needed to be performed. As such, he'd assign certain scenes for just that. Thinking the granddaughter of a theatre actor could help a new student come out of his shell, assigning Anna and Sylas to a passage from Much Ado About Nothing seemed a natural choice.
Ethan watched as Anna eagerly stood after hearing her name called to be Beatrice. He knew it was her favorite play and her grabbing the book for reference wasn't necessary as she'd known much of it by heart. When Mr. Viack called Sylas to be Benedick however, the mood shifted. Anna's fingers tightened on the book as she leaned on the corner of Mr. Viack's desk. Sylas concerned himself with flipping pages as he walked up.
Mr. Viack set the Act II scene of the masquerade ball and the class's Beatrice and Benedick moved to stand side by side, as though surveying a dance. As they began the classic bantering, Anna and Sylas spoke for the first time in eight years.
Nor will you not tell me who you are?
Not now.
At Sylas's reply Ethan would have slammed his head against the desk in frustration, if it wasn't for what he was seeing. He knew Anna could put on an acting hat when it suited her, but he heard enough about Sylas to know he didn't say a sentence when two words would do. Yet there he was, lines flowing with ease, angling his body so he leaned down a touch to be closer. Anna tilting her head and shifting so their stances were mirror. Mr. Viack nodded at the byplay, clearly pleased. Their synced move forward mimicked Beatrice and Benedick though Sylas took some liberty in grasping Anna's arms and spun her as though approaching a floor to dance.
Anna's answering laugh was muted by the class clapping as their scene ended. Sylas cleared his throat as they took Mr. Viack's requested bows and without another look her way returned to his seat. When she took hers, Ethan rubbed a hand over her shoulder. She threw him a quick smile over it, and seemed well enough when the bell rang before another scene could begin.
Neither of them noticed that she left her copy of Much Ado where she'd tossed it during the scene enactment. Nor did they notice Sylas pick it up and slip it into his backpack.
Now
Hayley paused from taking a drink of water and motioned to Ethan. "And?"
"And, that was the last interaction they had before we met Caroline." He clapped his hands for the water bottle, and caught it neatly.
"But you said that was in April. You met Caroline at the start of the next year."
"That's right. Now we're caught up. I should have started with them as I said…"
"This is bullshit." Hayley sat back and crossed her arms. "You're telling me they danced around it that whole time?"
"And for a while after. A long while. Cole's parents died not long after that class. After that Anna didn't focus on anyone outside of us. None of us did until Caroline. That's why I'm telling it this way, but if you're frustrated think of how we felt living it."
"Why didn't she call him out?" Hayley tried to imagine it. "To have those memories and feel that pull. Was it really just because she didn't believe he remembered her?"
Ethan shrugged. "I can tell you what happened. Anna would have to tell you why. But I can say the way they were drawn to each other back then and later was very intense. To feel that about someone you technically barely know…it's a lot for two fifteen year olds to know what to do with."
"That's what you think?"
"That's what Sy told me later." Ethan smiled.
Hayley returned it but her tone was still frustrated. "That's something at least. But it remains bullshit. Three ten year olds felt as intense a bond as I've ever heard, and none of you thought twice about it." She waved her arms as she rose. "Ugh. Let's leave the past for now. The present day version can walk me to work."
"I'd love that."
"I'll just get changed." But Hayley paused and turned back. "Cole has told me stories of you three as children. Some older. You've told me about the others that came later. Your relationships."
Ethan stretched lazily. "Mhm."
"So what's Anna's part to tell?"
"As a smart twenty four year old feeling a part of this intense bond, I give you not long before you guess it."
For the time being however, they put it aside and enjoyed a walk under the clearing twilight sky. Part of Hayley's mind was already spinning what she wanted to write of Anna and Sylas. She was also already jumping ahead, imagining what could be coming next. If Ethan's tone and expression was anything to bet on, she had to believe eventually Sylas and Anna got wise. Wise enough for him to grow a friendship with him. And there was no telling what happened with him and Caroline.
Throughout her shift she wondered on the things she heard, and felt. Ethan was right, she was in the story now and new she felt her own tugs of the bond that he described. And even curiosity for the others she knew stood where she did now. In a logical sense Hayley thought she should be worried that if those others were gone now, where would that leave her down the road? Would she lose them all too? But when she searched herself all she felt was a certainty. Which was something to fear as well so soon, but she couldn't quite muster it. Not when her reason for excitement and contentment walked through the bar doors ten minutes before close.
Hayley signaled to her manager that she knew Cole and without having to ask him, he took a seat at the end of the bar and waited patiently. He looked tired from his own day's work yet all but lit the room as he watched her close up.
"First Ethan walks me in, now you're here to see me home, I'll be spoiled within a week."
"Heard he bought you lunch, couldn't be upstaged."
"How was the wedding?"
"Great. All was indoors so the weather didn't slow them down. I was pumped they were game for a few shots after it let up though. Evening light when it's still damp photographs great."
"A Washington boy would know." Hayley leaned over for his kiss before making a grab for his camera.
"No way. I need to tweak them a bit first. But here, you can see this one."
A few clicks gave way to an image of Hayley through the bar window. She was drying a glass and staring off as though she were miles away.
"I don't look very professional."
"You just haven't turned off the other profession. The story is in your eyes." Cole put his camera back in his bag. "Ethan caught me up."
"Are you ok with it?"
"I think it's the right thing. It was for us to give it a breather too, but I think we can do both. And if he wants to take over some of the telling before he leaves, then the more of a breather you and I have with the story anyways."
"I have to say, I enjoyed your stories better. I have a feeling the Caroline and Sylas ones are going to be a bit more difficult."
"All lives have their things." Cole swiped her coat as they headed out and helped Hayley into it. "That's what Anna tries to keep us thinking that is." He tugged on her collars and snuck another kiss before taking her hand to leave.
As they walked Cole asked her what direction the new additions were taking her in. And was curious more when she told him she was writing fragments rather than a whole piece, and she' figure out later how she wanted it to come together. Despite his questions, Hayley felt the story drift away and instead could only notice the heat spreading through her as Cole's arm moved to wrap around her waist while she leaned the side of her face against him. He's tired she thought. Part of his own mind must surely be clicked towards the pictures he took and how he would edit them. He'd likely been on his feet all day. And there he was, nearing midnight, not only still on those feet to walk her home, but asking her about her own work. His face lit with both fatigue and interest. And every so often, something warmer when her face tipped up to his.
When they reached her apartment and she dug out her keys, she didn't say anything but wrap her arm in his to keep him along. And he didn't say anything when she tugged off his camera bag and coat, only to take his hand again. Both of them were silent as they crept across Hayley's shared hall and into her room.
Once the lock hit home, Hayley turned back against the door and Cole again took her hand. Bringing it to his face, he pushed her hair back with his other and searched her eyes. His smile spread as did hers, and their hands broke apart to travel and share.
After, Hayley lay sprawled across Cole, tracing up and down his jaw and sighing as his hands did the same across her back. When they looked at one another they broke out into a quiet laughter, and wrapped their arms around each other tight. So when Cole fell asleep and Hayley sat at her desk, what she typed wasn't the stories of young love that she heard that day. Bringing up her shoulders and tilting her head to one as she looked at the screen, the words that flew from her hands were her own love story.
Maybe one day she'd tell it, maybe not. For now, it was just for her.
