Summer 17

"Do you think he kept his promise?" Leann asked excitedly as she, Orland, and I waited outside of the academy for our class to start. I shrugged.

"It's hard to tell. But he seemed a little…uncomfortable with it? So, he might not." I said.

"I envy that you've seen him without any of his hats, Clara!" She exclaimed as I blushed.

"Uh, y-yeah…I mean since we hang out a lot and all." I replied in a slight lie.

Giving Leonel his gift was actually the first time I had ever seen him without any type of hat on. Though I tried to shut my brain off and go into my own little world while it was happening, I do remember his hair being a girl's dream. Even I wanted hair like that!

Mr. Barrett walked out of the academy, waving at us. He had an off look about him. Like something was puzzling him.

"Morning, kids." He greeted us, taking a seat on the grass pulling out a crossword book.

"Uh, morning, sir." Orland began, "Is something bothering you?"

"Well, no, nothing in a bad way. I just found it strange that Leonel didn't want to wear a hat today." Mr. Barrett said as Leann squealed in delight, causing him to jump in surprise.

"He kept his promise! He did! He did!" Leann exclaimed in delight.

"What? What promise? Also, can any of you kids tell me why he was wet last night?" Mr. Barrett asked in concern.

"Because of Clara-." Orland began before he covered his mouth to muffle his laughter.

"Okay, it wasn't that funny." I said, as Orland shook his head while waving his hand.

"I wasn't laughing at you pushing him off the pier, I was laughing at-at something else." He said, while covering his face, laughing out loud some more.

"Uh, why did you push him off the pier?" Mr. Barrett asked.

"He embarrassed her." Leann said.

"It was payback." I said as Mr. Barrett gave a half nod that said 'I get it' before looking over at Orland, who was still laughing, in concern.

"Is there any way you can shoo the sylphs away?" He asked as Orland shook his head.

"This wasn't even the sylphs this time!" Orland exclaimed as my eyes widened.

"Whoa, hold on. You made yourself laugh?" I asked in shock. Mr. Barrett sighed loudly.

"Alright, you kids can discuss Orland's inside jokes later. Right now though, get to class." He commanded as we nodded, heading into the academy and classroom where Leonel was waiting. Leann gasped in delight upon seeing the back of Leonel's golden locks.

"Oh my gooooosssshhhh!" Leann squealed excitedly, rushing over towards Leonel, who had turned towards us in his seat.

"It's even more beautiful dry!" She continued, turning her attention towards me. "And you were right, Clara! You can see more of his curls!"

"It…does look nice." Orland said in slight jealousy, crossing his arms.

"Orly? Are you jealous?" Leann teased as Orland blushed.

"Wha-? No!" Orland exclaimed, uncrossing his arms, his face becoming redder.

"Don't try to hide it, Orly." Leann said in a sing-song voice as Orland opened his mouth in a flustered way as if to say something before Leann continued. "And I don't blame you either! I'm jealous of Leonel's hair too!"

Orland's face reddened the deepest I had ever seen before his eyes gave a side dart towards the ground. A look of concern on his face.

"But seriously, Leonel! With whom do you get your hair from?" Leann asked.

"Yeah, Dorothy doesn't have hair like that! Though, I'm not sure about Barrett since his hair is pretty short." I said while pondering.

"And neither of them are blond…" Orland said as our eyes made it towards Leonel's face, who was blushing madly, I noticed that his fingers started wiggling as well, something he'd do when he became anxious.

"I look a lot like my grandma." He said while sighing.

"Uh, I hope you don't mean Audrey. Because I have seen portraits of her and you two look nothing alike." Orland said.

"Ah, no. Not-not grandma Audrey. My grandpa Byron's mom." Leonel explained as Orland crossed his arms.

"I don't think I've ever seen portraits of her." He said.

"Yes you have." Leonel replied, furrowing his brows.

"No, I haven't." Orland said.

"The portraits of the little girl hanging around grandpa Byron's office!" Leonel exclaimed as Orland's eyes widened.

"Wait, that's not you?" Orland asked in shock as Leonel became flustered.

"Okay, first off, my hair has never been that long! And secondly, do you think my parents would put me in a dress?" He asked as Orland pondered for a second.

"Alright, point taken." He said as the classroom doors opened with Ms. Mana entering, rushing towards her desk.

"Sorry I'm late, class! There was a small issue at the general store." She explained, going behind her desk. Her eyes widened at the sight of Leonel.

"Oh wow, Leonel! You really do look like your great-grandmother…oh, what did Byron say her name was again? Lily? Lois?" Ms. Mana exclaimed.

"Have you met her, Ms. Mana?" Orland asked.

"No, I've never met her. She passed before Byron and Barrett moved into Alvarna. But the portraits around the mayor's office are a dead give away to where Leonel gets his looks from and I know Byron thought highly of his mother."

"Uh, Byron and Mr. Barrett aren't from here?" Orland asked in shock.

"Uh, g-grandpa and dad moved here after a fire." Leonel said as Ms. Mana giggled.

"Ceci, Jake, Egan, Tanya, Jack, Herman, and Gordon aren't from Alvarna either." Ms. Mana pondered for a second.

"Actually I don't believe Max was born here either, but I know Rosalind was."

"Uh, where is everyone from? And how did they get here?" I asked in shock.

"Hm, I know grandfather and father are from Trampoli, though father doesn't remember much about Trampoli, considering they moved here when he was very young."

"I know that the de Sainte-Coquilles moved here because of Gwen…" Ms. Mana began.

"Who's Gwen?" Orland asked.

"Our grandmother." Leann and I said in unison.

"Gwen was actually from here before she and her family moved to the capital. My dad said she and Cosette were super close!" Ms. Mana continued.

"Uh…" Orland began.

"Cosette is my grandmother. I know you've met her!" Leann said with a small smile.

"Oh! I know who she is now! I didn't know her name, though." Orland said with a slight blush.

"Ceci is from Kardia, and she moved here to take over Herman's old maid who was retiring. Egan is from the Nation of Elves, and he moved somewhere up north, on the border of Roland, where he met his wife and had Jake. Jake and Egan moved here to just start a new life and be closer to a few family members." Ms. Mana smiled slightly.

"Gordon was from one of the mountainous villages up north, I'm not sure how he and Audrey met though, but I'm sure Leonel can ask him that sometime." She smiled at Leonel as he smiled back, nodding his head once.

"Tanya's from the same area as Jake and Egan's wife, though she did a lot of traveling. She met Derek by trying to save him from an orc…though, in the end I think he ended up saving her from the orc." Mana said while giggling.

"Well, this has been quite a lesson! Think of this as a brief history lesson on the people of this town." Ms. Mana said in a cheery way.

"Now, let's start our actual less-!"

"Uh, M-Ms. Mana?" Leonel began, as Ms. Mana gave him her attention.

"I-I know Jack lost his memory and doesn't remember a lot about his past…but…what about my grandpa and dad?" Leonel asked as Ms. Mana shrugged.

"No one knows about Byron and Barrett either. I know they themselves know, however I'm not sure if something tragic happened or what, but they don't talk a lot about their past. However, because of Byron's great leadership skills, I have a feeling that he was some kind of leader in their previous area." Ms. Mana gave another shrug before turning her attention towards the board.

"Alright, let's continue our budgeting lesson from last time." Ms. Mana said, her calligraphy handwriting gliding across the board in an elegant fashion.

We gathered our belongings as the bell rang for the end of the morning class as the afternoon class entered, Mr. Barrett following closely behind.

"I'll be out of your way in just a second, Serena." I said as she became flustered.

"Ah. No, no, t-take your time!" She exclaimed as I gave her a blank look.

"I don't think Mr. Barrett would want to wait around for his lessons." I said, giggling slightly as Serena blushed.

"Oh, right." She said as I buttoned my tote, lifting myself from my desk.

"I'll see you around." I said, waving at her while leaving the classroom. I walked out of the academy where my classmates were waiting for me.

"Uh, you know, you guys can go on without me, right? I don't even live in town." I said.

"We know, but I invited these two over to the inn for lunch. You wanna join us?" Orland asked as I blushed, pondering for a second.

"I am pretty hungry. And Egan's cooking is amazing. Sure, I'll join you guys." I said as Leann gave one of her delighted squeaks.

"The four of us hanging out for two days in a row? This has been the best week ever!" Leann exclaimed, the four of us began walking the path to the inn.

"I'm not even sure why we stopped hanging out together." Orland said as Leonel and I blushed.

The reason I stopped hanging out was because of my jealousy of Orland fawning over my perfect cousin. I had a slight crush on him and I still do. However I know those two have a crush on each other. I never understood why though, they were complete opposites, even if they did hang out a lot. I just suspect that Orland hangs out with and likes Leann because of her beauty.

"It has been nice, the four of us together again like when we were little." Leonel said.

"Yeah." I replied in agreement. It really was nice, despite my pity jealousy, the four of us hanging out together felt like a relief of some sort? I know that someday we're all going to go our separate ways in some way in the future, and we're not going to be able to hang out like this! So, I should definitely live in the moment now and enjoy my time spent with my friends.