Chapter 33

This chapter has been copied over from the original and may contain typos and grammar mistakes.

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“We had a new student come into the school today. The girls were quite taken with him.” Anwyn smirked.

“Is that so? I’m sure Mara already has her claws set into him.” Liam said, but he noticed the way Gloria was blushing, “Or maybe she won’t catch this one?”

“Who’s to say?” Gloria asked. “He seems to like books and learning, and if Alfred was any guess then she doesn’t like brainy guys, no matter how attractive they are.”

“Then perhaps Mable has a chance this time?” Liam pushed, wanting to watch her reaction. Her blush deepened.

“Mable has too had a time being her own person outside of Mara’s reach, I don’t know if she’s ready for a relationship.” she said.

“Then perhaps we are sitting with the most eligible bachelorette!” Anwyn teased.

Gloria took a gulp of air. “I’ve not been looking for a relationship, and you both know that. My studies are too important to distract myself with a boy.” She twisted the last word, making it a mockery.

Anwyn laughed and looked back at her food. Liam rolled his eyes and did the same. Robin looked like he wanted to throw his food, but he was getting better at not doing that… for now.

~*~

A the days had gone past, and Blake was settling in quickly. He brought out a competitive side that Gloria didn’t think that she had. He was smart, and while she knew that he had close to three years of a lead on her in learning, she felt like she cold out-smart him. She found herself wanting to catch his attention, to prove to him that she was his mental equal. Anything he could do, she could do the same.

It seemed to work.

“Hey, Gloria. Can I ask a favor of you?” Blake asked her coming back from lunch one day.

Gloria looked around at the group walking back to class, not wanting them to think that he wanted alone time with her for romantic reasons. Mable still looked at him with wonderment, and she didn’t want this to wedge between them.

“You may ask.” she smiled, finding a clever way to answer his request for a favor.

“I’ve been here for only a week, and I was hoping that I would have learned my way around faster, but I can’t seem to tell up from down. Would you be willing to give me a proper tour?”

“Oh, sure. I’ll just let my mom know and it shouldn’t be a problem. It’ll be fun!” she said, her heart fluttering like a humming bird in her chest.

“Is your mom nearby? Don’t you live on another island?” Blake asked.

“You haven’t noticed? The teacher is my mom.” she couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed, but maybe she just didn’t refer to her as mom in public so much? Particularly at the school, otherwise it felt unfair to have the teacher be your mom. She didn’t want people thinking she got special treatment. If anything she was set to harder standards.

“Oh really?! That’s interesting. I thought that she was your aunt, just like Mara and Mable.” Blake’s eyes grew wide.

“No, they’re my cousins on my mom’s side. They’re my mom’s sister’s children.”

“Oh, and Benjamin is your… brother?” he asked.

“No, he’s my uncle.” Gloria said plainly.

“Your uncle?!”

~*~

“That’s most of the island, and you can see most of it from that hill top over there by the school.” Gloria claimed as they filled the hours after school had let out. The sun was getting a bit low in the sky, and she guessed it was about 5 pm. The sun would be blazing soon as it set.

“It’s so much more colorful than I thought it would be. And the lack of clothing, it’s scandalous. Not that I’m complaining.” Blake stammered.

Gloria realized exactly how much clothing she was wearing and blushed a little. On the Islands it wasn’t abnormal to wear looser and less clothing, but she had a vague idea of how the people on the mainland dressed. Mara and Mable had raided their parents’ chests and found clothing from when they came here, and the dress that Aunt Lara had weighed as much as a medium sized dog and the under garments looked to be constrictive.

Still, they covered much more of the body than her clothing did now, and the difference must be quite extreme for Blake. How he kept his eyes in his eye sockets and didn’t oggle everyone he saw was beyond him.

“You’ll get used to it. There are a lot of things that are different here. Clothing, customs, relationships.”

“From what I’ve seen, this place is like a utopia. People are more free to live, to do as they please. They can dress how they like, they can pursue a legal relationship with anyone. I saw a man wearing only a cloth around his waist and walk into the ocean just yesterday! That would have never passed on the mainland.”

“Well, from what I hear the water is freezing most of the year on the mainland. Here the water is warm all year ‘round. You can swim whenever you like.” Gloria assured with a smile.

“I-” he looked hesitant to say it,, “I never learned to swim.”

“You never learned to swim!? If you can’t swim then you’re surrounded by death on all sides here! We have to fix that, come on.” She tugged him towards the water.

“Wha- now?” he asked, nervous.

“I’m ready, are you?”

“No!” he said with wide eyes. “‘I’m not ready. If we go in now, I’ll just- it’s a bad idea!”

“I’m a great teacher,” she said confidently. “I teach the little kids all the time. You won’t drown. I can support you in the water. It’s easy.”

“It’s- men and women aren’t supposed to swim together, much less disrobe around one another!”

Blake looked mortified at the idea of swimming with a woman, and that only made Gloria smile. “That is the old way of thinking talking. If you’re worried about seeing a body, you’re going to have to get over that fear pretty quickly.”

“Let me hold it for now.” he retorted, standing firmly on the ground and not looking like he would be jumping into the water anytime soon.

“How about this, two days from now I’ll teach you to swim. It’ll be a good time, and I’ll wear the most clothing I can and still swim.” she bargained.

He looked at her skeptically. “And you promise that I won’t have to wear less clothing?”

“I mean, wearing less clothing makes swimming easier, but no, you won’t have to wear less clothing.” she agreed.

“Alright then…” he looked uneasy.

“Once you learn how to swim, you’ll enjoy it. But come on, let's head home. It’s getting dark.” She led him away from the water and she walked him to his front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Have a good evening.” She turned away from him with a wave.

“See you tomorrow!” he called after her with a bit more enthusiasm as was normal, and she smiled, her heart speeding as she tried to act normal.

~*~

“-And I’m going to be teaching him to swim tomorrow!” Gloria spilled to Mara and Mable before school.

“What! That’s so bold of you!” Mable commented.

“I don’t know why he asked you to show him around, I am far more adventurous than you.” Mara rolled her eyes.

“And when did you learn to do magic? I’d say I’m just as special as you if not more so.” Gloria snidely shot back.

“He doesn't even know about your ability! That doesn’t count!” Mara argued.

“Well maybe my inner character just showed through a bit more. It doesn’t matter, he asked me and I got him to spend even more time with me and that’s all that matters. You don't get to win every time, Mara. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings but it gets tiring being in your shadow all the time.”

Of course Blake shows up at that moment. “What’re you guys talking about?” he asked.

“A dog.” Mara said coldly as she stared at Gloria with small eyes. “Just a dog. Gloria gets excited about her muts.”

Gloria stared at her, shaking with the thrill of arguing but also feeling ashamed of herself for being mean to one of her best friends.

Mara turned and walked up into the classroom, Mable followed her and looked sheepish. Gloria figured that she sided with Gloria on the topic, but she had so show support for her sister.

Class was tough. Gloria kept thinking about how she was sorry about throwing her anger in Mara’s face like that. It was only natural that she should defend herself like that, wasn’t it? She had insulted Blake though, even if he didn’t know it. It was rude… How was Gloria supposed to feel?

Lunch time came around and Gloria pulled Mara aside. “Look, we need to talk. I’m not going to let us unravel because of a lack of communication.”

She pulled her to the edge of the area, and turned to her. “I want to apologize for what I said earlier, it was too harsh. I don’t really feel like you’ve been taking all of the guys for yourself, but I also feel like you- you don’t often take other people’s feelings into consideration. This is the one time that I feel something towards someone, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to beat you to the finish line with him. I want to give this a chance.” Gloria said.

Mara looked like she was furious, but then she uncrossed her arms. “Fine,” she huffed. “I was too hard too. I do chase a lot of guys, and you never do, not even picking up the scraps like poor Mable. I hope she doesn’t die a spinster… I’ll back off and won’t try and get between you and Blake. He seems to like you, anyway. He looks at you when you’re not looking.” she winked and smiled and Gloria was happy for her change of spirit. “I’m sorry I took it so personally.”

“I’m sorry it got so personal.” Gloria replied, and they walked back to rejoin the group. That was way easier than she thought it was going to be, and she was relieved that it wouldn’t be a lasting problem.

“So Gloria, you’re going to teach Blake here how to swim? I’m sure you guys will enjoy the alone time.” Benjamin teased as the two girls returned.

Gloria blushed, but Blake seemed unfazed. “I hope we’re alone only for the fact that I don’t want people watching me failing at something children can do. Gloria seeing me do poorly is plenty of an audience.”

“Oh sure. I’m sure it’s not because you want to play around in the water for a while-” he was cut off with a kick under the table from Mable. ‘Play around in the water” was a euphemism on the islands.

“I mean, I hope I have a good time?” Blake looked confused.

“It’ll be a dandy time.” Gloria assured, giving Benjamin a stern look.

“Just a ‘dandy time’ where both parties are wearing swimwear…” Mara said quietly so that only she and Gloria could hear.

Blake looked around the table of giggling people. “Maybe I should ask Benjamin to teach me to swim…” he said hesitantly.