not all treasure is silver and gold

avery always understood when students weren’t quite so fond of his personality. he knew he could be overbearing at times, even if he didn’t mean to be. everyone has their faults, he thought. avery was debating whether he should keep his mouth shut (he probably should’ve) or find something else to say. ultimately, he spoke up once more, “i was just trying to be nice, i wasn’t sure if you were in a rush, or if your hands were full, or whatever the case may be.” avery knew he didn’t have to explain himself, but he wanted to. if someone wasn’t going to accept his kindness, they might as well understand why he did what he did. 

“I couldn’t care less, mate. In my life, everyone’s been on their own. Every man for themselves, and it’s a rule I follow. It’s ‘nice’ that you care for others, or whatever, but it’s going to fuck you over someday. That much, is for sure.” Cohen sighed, this boy clearly needed a life lesson. He was too kind, too good. No one could be that good and survive too long in this world. The boy acted as though he’d walked straight out of some perfect fairytale. She’d only spent mere seconds with him and she was already sick of him.

“don’t worry, i’ll hold it for you!” avery called out, stepping up to push his arm in the way of the closing elevator door. he pushed it back a bit and watched as the automatic sensors kicked in and it slowly slid back. “man, i hate it when the doors start to close and no one does anything,” he said, smiling that bright, welcoming smile of his at his new company. “so i always try and keep it open if i see someone coming!” he added, wanting to add a positive twist to his previously negative statement. “anyways, what floor are you going to?”

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Cohen smiled awkwardly at the bright boy before her and wondered why she even forced herself to seem happy when she so obviously was not. “I think you care too much about things like doors closing.” She mumbled, sick of this boy’s optimistic rant. “The fifth floor.” She was tempted to say a lower floor just to get away faster, but decided against it. What’s a few more seconds with him? He can’t be that bad, surely. 

“What do you mean it’s my fault?” Hermes yelled into her phone, not bothering to think about the people who might hear her. She was angry. She had been away for the past month dealing with Fashion Week, and she had returned to campus expecting to relax, but instead she had returned to find that the school had decided to change rooms, again. And worse than that- her entire shoe collection had been lost in the move. “You’re the ones who decided to switch up the rooms, and <i>you</i> packed and moved all of my belongings,” she continued, reminding the lady that this was their fault, “So I don’t see how it could possibly be my fault that my entire show collection suddenly disappeared when I haven’t even been on this godforsaken campus!” She paused to take a few deep breathes, before barking into the phone again, “Find them. Or you’ll be hearing from my lawyers. With that she hung up her phone. “If they can’t find them, I’ll just have to look for them myself,” she mumbled as she slid her phone into her purse, before turning on her heel and walking off.

Cohen couldn’t help but listen in- it’s not that she had manners or anything like that, but when someone is yelling on the phone, it’s impossible not to listen in. She couldn’t help but judge Hermes, at least a little bit. Cohen had never had material things, and it seemed that the other girl had had more than enough in her lifetime. “Are you really that upset about shoes?” Cohen only owned two pairs of shoes, even now. Before she’d come to school, she’d only had one pair. She couldn’t believe that this girl had a “shoe collection” and that she could pay people to move her stuff from dorm to dorm. Cohen couldn’t even afford three meals a day, let alone movers and endless pairs of shoes. It all seemed a little wild to her. “It might be good for you to do something by yourself for once.” Cohen commented, knowing she had no right to. 

“Heavy breathing. Lungs deprived. Liver cowering for fear of more vodka shots. A struggle for survival. I am dying.” Jack opened his eyes. “Just means I don’t have to do my homework anymore.”

“Well, maybe you’re just bad at handling your liquor then. Why don’t you hand me the bottle?” Cohen smirked, hand outstretched. She knew he wasn’t offering his alcohol to her, but if he was drunk enough to be mumbling and lying on the floor, it’d only be decent for her to take it from him and drink it herself, right?

Her words confused him. Up until now, he had been certain that he wanted to continue to see her. After her statement, though, he wasn’t so sure. “Well, if that’s how you feel…” He cleared hi throat. “I… I can’t force you to want something more. I know how you feel about royalty, after all.” This felt strange for him. He was usually so confident… This brought up old memories of standing in the rain, waiting on someone who would never arrive. Feelings of being unwanted. He swallowed hard. “Should I leave?”

“Lucian,” Cohen took a deep breath, trying to figure out what she should say, how she should say it. “You are giving me so many mixed signals and this is already unknown territory for me and I’m really just trying to say that I want you to be happy. I’m trying to give you what I want and I don’t know if you’ve ever met a god damn pirate before, but that’s not what we usually do.” Cohen was sure she’d never showed how nervous she was in front of anyone before. Her words came tumbling out quickly- forcing them out was the only way to say how she really felt. She wasn’t good at this. “No, don’t leave.” She hated the sense of panic in her voice. Cohen really, really didn’t want him to leave. Not when she’d just lied about how she felt, not when he might want something more. “I... I think we’re just... confusing each other.” She sighed, wondering if she should just tell him how she feels. “Don’t you know what I really want?” She asked, a pout on her lips, wishing he could just look at her and know. “I feel like I’m making it really obvious now.” She gave out an anxiety-riddled chuckle, wishing that this conversation would just end, and things would be right, the way she wanted. 

“Wait,have you ever even gone to school?”LIla asked,the pirate girl wasn’t dumb or anything but she was a tad rough around the edges.”Not that you’re dumb or anything,I’m sure you learned as you went.But is this your first time doing formal schooling?”

Cohen knitted her eyebrows together, giving the girl a look. Was that supposed to be derogatory in some way? Her face relaxed once more when the girl continued, although she felt as though Lila should be a little more careful about the way she talks to people. “Yes, it’s my first time in ‘real’ school and, as I’ve made pretty obvious, I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t understand how all of you have been in school for- what is it supposed to be? 12 years? And you still have to keep going? Fucking ridiculous.”

“What?”Lila said,cocking her head at the other brunette.”Not even textbooks and more notebooks? Because well I don’t know what you’re studying,you’ve got to at least need some stuff.”Lila said,thinking about what she knew about the other girl. She might not be able to afford it but there was noway Lila was gonna say that to her face.

“Nope.” Cohen said simply, shrugging her shoulders. She’d buy a new notebook when she ran out of paper in the one she had now. “Hell, I don’t even know what I’m studying. But I have some stuff, the necessary stuff. I don’t need anything more than that.” Cohen was sure of herself. There was no way that she needed more than that, at least not at the start.

“A relationship…” He said the word aloud as if it was a completely foreign concept. He scratched the back of his neck, biting his lower lip as he thought of how to answer it. “I suppose, in the traditional sense, no,” he answered truthfully, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Me either,” Cohen sighed, her voice falling. “Maybe we…” She trailed off, still deciding what the next word would be. “Maybe we shouldn’t.” Her words were firm, but anyone could tell by her face that she was completely unsure. As soon as the words had left her lips, she regretted it. Her heart was screaming the opposite of her lips, but it seemed so clear that he didn’t want this, that he didn’t want her. Her eyes wandered up to his, “Is that what... you would want? We could just... do- or- I guess, be something... else.” Cohen’s words were awkward, unlike her usually sure personality.

“School starts in one day! Kill me now. I have no where near enough fall stuff and pens and papers yet.”Lila said,frantically thinking of what she still had to get.”Do you have everything or are even ready to go back?”

Cohen sat, listening to Lila speak, her mind wandering as to why she was speaking to this Rein when she hadn’t spoke to the one she preferred in quite some time.  “No. I have a pencil that I stole from some kid and a notebook and I’m not wasting another penny on school supplies.” Cohen sighed, hating the idea that classes were starting so soon. 

“Well yeah,I guess it is fun not to have to work but I’m sure you’ll like going to school here. It is a bit ridicules for the kids that are dropped here but a lot flourish here.”Dot liked WDA a lot,it was different from the school in The Great Forrest but it was in some ways better.She had loved traveling and visiting her family this last spring but she loved being back.”Oh wow,are you scheduled to do that soon?It is getting awfully late for testing.I had to take testing for the next grade because my semester off.”

“Okay, that’s ridiculous. I’m going to hate going to school here. I think I make that much clear as day. If I haven’t... flourished yet, it’s not going to happen.” The word ‘flourished’ sounded disgusting leaving her lips. It was such a nice, dainty word- everything that Cohen was not. “No, it’s not scheduled yet. I’ve got quite a bit of a ways to go, but it’ll come before I know it, I’m sure.” 

It was in the footsteps that you could always tell who the person was; whether they were soft and malleable, or more of a challenge. Before Emmanuel could determine which though a voice already called out in reply to his own words. “Goodbye! See quite the very opposites day it’s not wouldn’t you not agree?”

Cohen sighed, eyes rolling in annoyance. “What the fuck?” It came out as more of a statement than a question, tired of this school’s bullshit. “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve heard in my entire life.” She was never the type to find childish things funny. She never got much of a chance to be a child, and she wasn’t about to go back now. “Opposite day doesn’t even make any sense. If you say it is opposite day, that literally means that it’s not- which also means that you’re a dumbass.”