Letters to Romeo

When Julie pushed the doorknob to open it, she caught sight of the counsellor, who was sitting behind the desk. Mr. Evans's gaze fell on her, and he gave her a bright smile.

"Come in, Ms. Winters."

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Evans?" asked Julie, her words careful as Conner had not mentioned what the counsellor wanted from her.

Mr. Evans' smile was between a relaxed and a creepy smile, and there was something very eerie about it. "I did. I thought to have a little chat with you, please close the door and take a seat," Mr. Evans pointed his hand towards the chairs that were in front of him.

"Ah, I haven't finished my classes yet," she informed him, which was true while she also wanted to escape from this place. It would have been rude not to show up here and attend her classes when he had sent her friend to tell her to come and visit him.

"I won't keep you long here, after all, it isn't like you are here because you want to discuss your trouble," Mr. Evans closed the book that was in front of him and pushed it aside. "I will give you the pass to skip your class, that you came here on my word. Hm," he eyed the chair.

Julie pushed the door and closed it behind her, slowly walking towards the chair, and she sat in the chair that was the closest to the door. Her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand so that the worry wouldn't show up on her face while she waited for him to speak.

"How was your Hallow, Ms. Winters?" questioned Mr. Evans.

"Uh, it was good. How about you?" Julie returned the question because she felt it was impolite to not ask the same to him. But her question only intrigued the vampire who was sitting in front of her.

"It was wonderful, thank you for asking. Nobody asked me how my Hallow was," replied Mr. Evans. Then he said, "Your friend Conner must have told you that we met in the corridor, and while speaking, something very interesting came up. I was hoping we could speak more about it. About the cemetery," his unnerving smile didn't leave his lips.

Hearing his words, Julie felt her heart drop. Did such a casual mention of the cemetery reach counsellor this fast?

"Cemetery?" asked Julie, trying to keep a straight face, and Mr. Evans nodded his head.

"Yes, you see, while talking about his costume, Conner told me that he was hoping about having a fake cemetery in the campus as it would be more fun to celebrate Hallow and then he said you saw a cemetery before in Veteris. Is that true?" came the casual words from Mr. Evans as if he meant no harm.

"Oh, that!" Julie smiled, and she nodded her head, "I had this dream about the cemetery and I mentioned it to them."

"Is that so," said Mr. Evans, the smile on his lips subtly lowered, and he leaned forward, before asking saying, "I was surprised that you saw something I have never seen before. Wondering where you saw it. He must have forgotten to mention that it was only a dream."

"Yeah," Julie nodded her head. She didn't know if this was some kind of test because the last time, he had told her not to speak about what happened in the forest. Remembering Roman had told her to stay away from the counsellor, she tried to be wary of him. "Is that all you wanted to ask me?" she was ready to leave, but Mr. Evans waved his hand as if telling her to stay put in her seat.

"You seem to be in a hurry to get back to your class," remarked Mr. Evans.

Julie offered him an innocent smile and said, "I don't want to fall behind in my grades by skipping the important classes. Veteris has such in-depth subjects that I am still trying to manage to cover everything and now I am in a play script because of that day," it was because of this person that she had been sent to the detention room!

"Don't worry, I won't keep you here for long. I have only one more question for you, Ms. Winters," said Mr. Evans, his eyes keenly looking at her. He asked, "Do you remember anything about a scream or if you have ever entered the restricted side of the forest and seen something?"

Julie shook her head without opening her mouth.

She tried to keep her breathing calm while digging her fingernails deeper into her palms. What was she supposed to reply? That she saw the cemetery and she had met him with Mr. Borrells? But then she wondered, why would a counsellor ask her questions about it as if he was trying to confirm that she wouldn't tell it to anyone?

But then, she had already broken that rule by mentioning it to Roman.

"Is that a no, Ms. Winters?" questioned Mr. Evans, and Julie nodded her head.

"It is, Mr. Evans."

Mr. Evans stood up from his chair, making his way around the table to come and lean next to the side of the table where she was sitting. He then placed one hand of his on the table while staring at her.

"Why are you asking me these questions?" Julie questioned, keeping her eyes on him.

"I was just curious, Ms. Winters. Just to know if you happen to remember something that I told you. If you do, do let me know."

Before the man could get any creepier, the room's door opened, and Mr. Evans stood straight. Julie's gaze shifted to look at the door and saw Roman.

"Our dear student, Mr. Moltenore. It has been a while since you graced your presence in this room," said Mr. Evans as he turned to look at Roman. "How can I help you?"

"There is something I want to talk to you in private. It is important," said Roman, his eyes fixed on the counsellor and not once did it move to look at Julie.

"It seems like you are always interrupting my conversation with the students," hummed Mr. Evans. He then turned to look at Julie and said, "I will talk to you later, Ms. Winters. You can get back to your class," he offered another polite smile to her.

Julie was more than happy to step out of the room and walk as far as possible from the counsellor's questions. She realized this was the second time where Roman had interrupted her and Mr. Evans' conversation.

While making her way towards the door, her eyes fell on Roman, who continued to talk to Mr. Evans. It felt good to see him. She wondered if Mr. Evans was some sort of sleazy lewd counsellor, which was why Roman had interrupted them.

She decided not to bring up anything that had happened in the forest with her friends as it seemed like words could spill and reach the counsellor's ears, and Julie didn't want to meet him again.

After having dinner and when she returned to her dorm, she noticed the position of her note next to the window had changed. Walking near her window, she picked it up and saw the new note, that read—

'Hm?'

It wasn't much, but seeing his reply brought a smile to Julie's lips. The response had come late, but it was here. Picking up her pen, she replied to him—

'I thought you stopped writing letters.'

Roman had written back to her the following day —'What made you think I wouldn't? What did Evans ask you yesterday?'

Julie replied to him with—  'You are usually quick when it comes to replying, and you didn't come to pick the letter that I had written… So I thought maybe the letter on the Hallow day was the last one.

Mr. Evans asked me about the cemetery, and then about the night, I met him in the forest. He scares me. I should have been more careful. I will be now. What did you have to speak to him about? The way he said it, it seemed like you had visited the counsellor's room a couple of times. Is it true?'

By the time of the evening and after her classes, she had received his reply. Today, she hadn't seen him in the corridors, making her wonder if he had skipped his classes again, something he often liked to do.

Roman's letter read—

'I was busy with something else, which was why I didn't come by. I didn't know you were waiting for my reply.

Considering he didn't call you again, you should be okay for the time being unless you decide to broadcast what I told you not to do. I spent some useless time with him in the past because the headmistress thought counselling would help me control my temper. But I think beating up people is a good form of therapy.'

Roman Moltenore, the delinquent. Really, why was he always angry? Maybe he needed to start meditating to control his temper, thought Julie in her mind.

​​When it was the day to practice their period drama with students who had received detention together, once they had gathered and Ms. Piper had arrived, she stared hard at one of the students. The room had turned into giggles and whispers on seeing the boy, whom Roman had beaten, who had black and blue bruises, and his face had swollen.

Ms. Piper pinched the bridge of her nose, "I thought I was very clear when I told you not to get into brawls. What happened to your face, Dalton? You are supposed to play the role of the handsome friend next to the second female lead, but here you look like a bruised pumpkin."

Dalton turned to look at Roman and said, "Ms. Piper, it was Roman who did this to me during Hallow!"

"I don't remember seeing you that day," came the calm words from Roman and Dalton's hand turned to fist.

"I was in the forest and I was going to-" Dalton stopped as if not knowing how to complete the sentence, and Roman and the rest waited for the boy to complete it. "He beat me up!"