THE KNOCK AT the door stopped Charlotte in her task of studying. The previous day she had been introduced to her instructor Mr. Nielson and while she had told herself that she wasn’t going to like him, she actually grew quite fond of him. He was funny, quirky, and reminded her of her father. He was doting on her just like her papa did, and he also had an unrequited love that she was dying to find out more of.

Mr. Nielson had known the girl as Lottie Lionsheart, but when they meet the first time they had started to discuss her previous schooling and then continued on to what her father taught at the Academy. When she had slipped and said that her father’s name was Bryan Rothschild, she suddenly realized that she had revealed herself as Charlotte Rothschild. It was there that Simone and Elliot, much to their distress and annoyance, explained to Nielson the whole situation about her concealing her identity.

“Charlotte! You have mail!” Mr. Nielson sung in his tenor voice and the girl laughed. Placing the letter on her desk he took a seat beside her, looking with interest at her letters. “What does Ms. Cheric say today?”

Charlotte smiled before ripping the top of the envelope with a letter opener. The envelope was heavy, carrying more than one letter, peaking Charlotte’s curiosity even more. “It seems like multiple letters…” She replied with surprise before pulling out the stack and a pile of pencil shavings poured out from the letters.

Charlotte cringed away from the mess and shuddered at the sight. How she hated pencil shavings! It only reminded her of the countless scraping sounds of her wiping her papers whenever she needed to erase something, and then the shavings getting stuck to the bottom of her writing hand. It was her one main pet peeve after all.

Mr. Nielsen quirked an eyebrow at the mess before walking over to the entrance so he could bring over the trash can.

Ms. Lionsheart,

My name is Damien Drummond.  I don’t know if you remember me but we met briefly on The Division. I hope you are well even in these dark times. I’m sorry for everything that has happened, and please know that when we next meet, I will repay you for that one time. Until then, I hope we remain pen pals.

Damien Drummond

“What did it say Charlotte?” Nielson asked politely while he was wiping the shavings into the trash. Charlotte placed the letter down and also wiped the oak table to get rid of the shavings in front of her.

“He apologized for everything that happened, and that he’d pay me back. Oh, he did say that he wants to remain pen pals until that time though.” She smiled before grabbing another letter from the folded stack and messy stack.

“Did you see this letter?” He peered down over her shoulder to the neatly written letter and immediately recognized the writing. Charlotte didn’t see her teacher’s recognition appear across his face because she was already onto her next thought.

“He was one of the gentlemen that helped me on The Division. If I remember correctly, he was quiet but sweet.”

Bestie!

Long time no see squirt! If I had known that a sixty-five foot wave was coming sooner I would have strapped you to my back. We both could have come unscathed from it. Most of the crew got injured, but we somehow made it on the same shoreline. Where’d you wind up? I owe you a piping hot meal from Anna still, so I hope you don’t mind waiting! We’ll find you, I guarantee it! Until then keep us posted on your health and stuff. We like to know how our crew is doing, even the ones we picked up. Hope all is well.

Xavier Drummond

P.S. I hope you aren’t mad about me telling you to swab the deck. We cool, right?

Mr. Nielson grabbed another off the stack before glimpsing the name at the bottom of it. Surprised, he looked up at Charlotte still reading her letter from Damien. “Charlotte, you know Aden Summerfeld?”

The mention of his name made Charlotte shoot her head up. “Did you say Aden Summerfeld?!” She dropped Xavier’s letter on the table before grabbing the one in Mr. Nielson’s hand. He gave her another bemused look.

“He used to be one of my students in The Academy. I believe he arrived when he was fifteen, and somehow met his half-brothers without realizing it. It was quite a shock to find out those three were related despite Aden’s mysterious past. They were a lively group, now that I think about it. Xavier had already graduated but still managed to cause a ruckus. Hmm…”

Charie-Lottie

Lies get people nowhere. I hope you know that while I know your circumstance that does not change the fact that you still belong to me until you’ve paid me back. Expect an interest on that because of the time lapse and how many times I’ve had to save you. When we somehow do meet, try not to be the damsel in distress again.

Aden Summerfeld

Charlotte scowled at the letter before tossing it away. “He’s an unbelievable jerk. I am never imagining him saving me again. In fact, I’m going to assume it was Xavier and Damien.”

Mr. Nielson laughed before pulling a particular letter out. “I think you’re looking for this one, right Charlotte?” She took the letter from his hands before instantly recognizing the handwriting.

“Olivia!”

Ms. Innocent,

How much longer are you going to make me worried? It took you five months after your disappearance to actually contact me? This is about seven months after your last letter, so I am glad you kept track of that for me.  Not only that, but you’ve also caused me a great deal of hassle. I hope you’re prepared for the consequences. You’ll be expected to buy me a month’s worth of root beer when we do meet again. You’re tenacious enough to survive the ocean twice, and brave (though I would not necessarily consider you as such since your actions were rather foolish) for fending off Claire and Zaine by yourself.

I’m sure my brother and his companion are treating you well. Just be sure to not create too much destruction or they may bill me extra for it. At which point I WILL come after you with all of my gadgets and beat you. The shelving units you knocked over previously were added to one of my bills, at which point I burned the envoy. I hope you don’t mind the repercussions that come with that Charle. Also whoever decided to use Lottie as an alias is completely ridiculous.

Your studies are important so do not overlook them. In fact I’ve provided all the essentials from when you were attending the satellite campus of the Academy in Chiariotti. I intend in this coming year to have you at least on par with the average human being.

Charie is functioning the same as it had years prior. I’ve had to update the model to fit your current image, but after some tweaking I realized it was missing something. I added a money system in it for those who want to vent their anger on it. I wasn’t expecting much money to be made because it looks like you, but you’d be surprised how many times Summerfeld comes to beat it. Many thanks for your relationship with him, I’m making quite a fortune.

Livvy

“She’s using Charie for WHAT?!” Charlotte cried before crushing her letter. Only Nielson pointed to the back of the parchment.

“I think she wrote you a post script Charlotte.”

Blinking, the girl with auburn hair took the crinkled paper and flattered it out. Turning it she read the post script Mr. Nielson had noticed.

P.S. (Means Postscript ! :D)

For your future instructor, Charlotte is clumsy, naïve, but also very intelligent. I have provided a bulk of data and progress reports of her successes (with some awesome stories of her epic failures) through the years. I hope they will adequately provide you with a means of dealing with her. May you have some patience with her blonde moments and comical outbursts.

As for my friend: After you’ve crinkled my letter in your comical and definitely foreseen tyrannical rage I see you doing, the paper will then self-destruct into bits of pencil shavings from all those years we haven’t seen each other. Along with everyone else’s. Think of it as a safety precaution and belated birthday present. Happy seventeenth birthday love and I will see you later. :DD

Before Charlotte could react to it, all of the letters she had read blown up on the desk into a cloud of pencil shavings and burnt bits flew all over Charlotte. Mr. Nielson who had been holding the bulk of Charlotte’s progress reports remained unscathed as those had yet to explode. He extended them away waiting for the inevitably but nothing happened.

“She’s the enigmatic one, isn’t she?” Mr. Nielson chuckled nervously while Charlotte who had burnt paper soot and pencil shavings all over her attire and hair was fuming in her seat.

“Livvy I hate you so much right now!”

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞