THE STACKS| MORNING, JUST AFTER FIRST LESSONS
Oh well, it wasn’t like they would miss it.
“You’ve been paired with Madeline Gosselin, a sixth form student. You and Miss Gosselin will travel into the Stacks, with yourself as the escort, to shop for the St Grumbles redtie function.” The lady in the office had advised her, seeming to have little care as to whether Lilanee was going to attend the function or not. The Hessean laughed, shaking her head.
“Oh, I’m not going to the red tie event. I’m going to spend the holiday catching up on my notes for my paper next sea—” The clerk cut her short with a flick of paperwork and a bored tone. It was clear she’d already dealt with multiple objections this day.
“Any student staying on campus for St Grumbles is required to make an appearance at the dinner, at the very least. You must be neatly dressed in the appropriate whites and reds of the evening. You may wear any shade of white or off white, but red must be the school crimson per uniform guidelines. Make-up, should it be worn, must be tasteful and unless you are from one of our neighboring countries all dress should be Anaxi or Bastian in cut. Here is a list of stores in the Stacks that can help you, and remember to let them know to charge it back to the school under your name. The costs will be included in your parents fee’s next semester.” The student took the paper, blinking at the abruptness of it all.
“But I—” She began, cut short as she was accosted with another piece of paperwork, this time a small stack of cards.
“This is for your day trip expenses. Carriage rides, food, etcetera. Ensure details of place, person and price are captured on the card and you sign it and keep the stubb. We will reimburse anyone who brings the other half in. Remember Miss Kuleda, you are the senior student on this trip and as such Miss Gosselin is your responsibility. Dress warmly, it’s windy today.” And with that, the freckled ninth form found herself dismissed.
So here she was, at the gates of Brunnhold, waiting for her ward to arrive. There were other ninth and tenth forms here too, slowly trickling away with false smiles and greetings for their younger charges. Lilanee didn’t know Madeline Gosselin personally, in fact she had no clocking idea what she even looked like, but she knew of the Gosselin twins.
Absolute Circle-damned jerks.
The twins were in the same form as her, and by the Pantheon they were full of themselves. They acted as though they were better than everyone else, and truly believed it. Truthfully, they were attractive students, but their superiority complex made them seem ugly to her. More than once, Lilanee had encountered their lunchtime shenanigans, and more than once she had smart mouthed them. To say she was not in their good books was probably a minor understatement, but then the Hessean wasn’t really in anyone’s good books.
Except maybe Ezre, but then who really knew.
Fighting with the name card that she was holding for the sixth form as the wind gusted again, Lilanee made a sound of frustration as she shifted to trying to hold her skirt, loosing the card and watching it flip and twist across the manicured front gardens of the university.
“Oh for Ophur’s sake!” She shouted suddenly, uncaring about the funny looks the others gave her.