She'd been a bad friend. It wasn't on purpose, of course. There were some people with who it just felt right. With Elodie, it had always been like that. Most didn't know about the paralyzing anxiety that had filled Aurora when she had been thrust into the high school cafeteria. You're a grace, her newly acquired mother had reassured her. It'll be a breeze. Aurora had wanted to argue that being magically blessed wasn't a surefire way to make friends, but she had nearly eaten her words that first day. Even though her grace status remained contentious in her mind, it had made the acclimation easier.
Despite the throng of people with their welcoming smiles, it had been Elodie who had caught Aurora's eye. Elodie, with the well worn second hand clothes and desire to be kind even when the world wasn't kind to her. She made Aurora want to be a better person even if she never really found the way to vocalize that. Aurora was, in some ways, jealous of her friend. Not of the abuse and trauma, of course, but of her good heart. Her own goodness was something she doubted. Was it just the magic of her caster aunt's that inspired her to be good? No one would ever confirm or deny.
Unable to handle sitting at home under her parents watchful eye, Aurora had gotten to the restaurant with ample time. She had brought along a textbook to go over, but it had sat abandoned as she propped her head on her hand. As dismal as the thought was, Aurora knew her only way of getting through senior year homeschooled and away from the new friends she found comfort in. Elodie had graduated, but that didn't matter. There was still Phillip and a few others to socialize with.
The sight of Elodie's familiar blonde hair instantly caused Aurora to perk up even as she waved off an errant yawn. "Too long," she agreed before instantly plastering the smile that appeased her parents on her face. "Of course. My sleeping schedule has been terrible lately. "Turns out the gift of beauty only goes so far against eye bags." Elodie was one of the few people outside of Phillip and Aurora's family who knew about her grace gifts. "But that's boring. You. How are you? I've missed your face. I'm sorry for not calling. My parents have been all over me lately."
Elodie could immediately tell that Aurora was off. More off than normal. They knew each other well enough by now that it didn't take her more than a few seconds to clock it, but she tried not to let herself start to ask too many questions. Things between the two of them still wasn't quite what it used to be, and the last thing she wanted to do was scare off her only friend when they were seeing each other for the first time in weeks.
She couldn't help the giddy grin she gave at Aurora's next words. "I missed yours too. Eye bags and all." She didn't think it was as boring as Aurora tried to pass it off as, but the other girl was very good about shifting the focus off of herself when she wanted to. It was something Elodie both appreciated and also loathed.
"I've been..." Trailing off, she realized that she couldn't really come up with a good enough lie to try to say she was fine. It flustered her a bit as she laughed sadly and ran her fingers through her hair to push some strands away from her eyes. There was so much she wanted to tell Aurora about the past several weeks, but she didn't even know where to begin. For starters, she wanted to confirm that she was in fact at the ball, just under a glamour. She just couldn't help the disappointment that immediately washed over her as she thought about Henry. "You know. Not great, I guess? A lot has happened."

















