Elyon Brown

“No!” He coughed out, dusting himself off as his feet finally came in contact with the street again. “Just me, I mean. Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Hercules pointed back at the empty lot with the semi-abandoned construction and shot her an embarrassed smile. “Not like it isn’t obvious, but that is not a good shortcut.”

Elyon froze when she saw who it was.  “I...um.  I... didn’t mean to interrupt you.  I...I’ll be going” she said quickly turning around.

Arista peeked her head out from around the door to see the woman. “Hey, sorry. What’s up?” she asked, stepping all the way out with a smile.

“I was actually hoping to find someone to join me on a walk since it is such a nice night tonight.  Did you want to come?”

“Just me!” Jack called out happily, balancing the tray of freshly baked pumpkin cookies on both hands. “I was trying out a new recipe with pumpkin and ginger. Wanna try one?” He offered. 

Elyon smiled.  “Do you need any help with those?”  The smell of fresh baked cookies was making her stomach growl a little which reminded her that she hadn’t eaten in awhile.  “If you don’t mind” she said taking a cookie and taking a bite.  “They’re really good” she mumbled around the cookie.

“Just me!” Tulio replied, walking out from behind the office door. “Sorry, I was making sure the… How do you say, the thing… Agh…” He gestured towards the air conditioner. “Aire acondicionado. Making sure it’s off, so we don’t waste electricity. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Are you talking about the air conditioner?”  Elyon asked.  “Oh no.  I was just wondering around and I saw the lights on but no one anywhere in sight.  I just wanted to make sure that everything was ok?”

“Always so starry-eyed.”

“I mean I guess.  No one as every said anything before.  Is that a bad thing if I am?”

“The stars are looking out for us, then,” she mused with a soft smile. “I wouldn’t mind staying out here all night.” She paused. “Do you have a blanket we could sit on?”

Elyon smiled as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a blanket.  She knew that it was always good to be prepared no matter.  She spread out the blanket before sitting down.  “Hopefully the animals don’t mind us being out here?”

Clarissa took a quick glance at the sky then, with her eyes on her book again, she nodded at the question. “Are you always like this?”

Elyon looked at the other girl confused.  “Always like what?”

“Sometimes I’m in awe of how they never get old, even though we see them almost every night. They’re so full of wonder.” Aurora grinned as her gaze shifted to the sky. “Not a cloud in sight.”

Elyon smiled.  “Its always hard to feel stress on nights like this.  It’s almost like the stars want us to forget about tests and homework and just spend the night staring at them.”

“You think? I think you have a really nice and delicate face. Like, ethereal but with a sort of stronger light hiding beneath the surface.” Jack commented, already taking a fresh page and setting his carbon and pencils in a row. “As long as you’re okay with me doing it, of course.”

Elyon couldn’t help but blush.  “If I agree to let you draw me will you stop saying things like that?”

Adella listened carefully, her brow furrowing slightly as she processed what the other girl was saying. “Yeah, I think I get it… Like, name what they wanted at the begining as opossed to whet they got and how things could’ve gone differently if they’d gotten all they thought they needed. Based on what we think of them. Right?” She grinned at the example. “That’s lovely, I think in the end if it’s your true love it doesn’t really matter wether they’re the prince or the pauper, right?” She commented a little dreamily. 

“Exactly” Elyon said with a smile.  “I believe that there is someone out there for everyone not just in stories and I agree that it shouldn’t matter if they are a prince or just a normal person.”

“Oh my twin sister does the same thing when she’s focusing on her med studies!” Della commented with a little smile. “Thank you so much!” She stares down at her notebook, biting her pen. “Okay, so… you know how we have to kind of analyze both the characters’ desires and goals. But also how does affect the general story? I kind of don’t know how to separate the two things.”

Elyon thought for a minute.  “That confused me to at first but then I thought it over.  I think what the teacher is trying to get us to think about is if the characters don’t get their goals or desires by the end of the story would it have changed the outcome of the story if they did get what they wanted.  So like say a girl wanted to find her true love and have a happy ending but she thinks that her true love is a prince but at the end of the story she gets her true love who is her best friend and she still gets her happy ending would the story have changed if her best friend had been a prince.”

“That sounds very neat as well. I bet you’d be great at it,” Joy assured warmly. “I doubt that’s true. You seem like a very nice candidate to me!”

“I hope so” she said with a smile.  “I don’t know about that.  I mean I don’t think even half the school or even the town know my name.”