She didn’t care that it didn’t sound very plausible. Everyone knew about Katrina and her gang of bullies but no one lifted a finger to do anything about it.
“You should be more careful,” he said, then gave her what she needed and was happy as long as these issues were resolved without his interference.
Mr. Maslowski liked his job but this was his last year and he was happy he would be retired once the year was finished. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved in a bully affair, especially since he knew who the probable bully was and who her father was. That second thing in particular made it easy for Katrina to rain insults on whoever she pleased, without any fear of consequences.
As Eva was walking through the campus, she enjoyed the fact that she was allowed to be on her own for a while, especially during a time when everyone else was obligated to be in class. This happened rarely, and she decided to make the best of it. She was curious about that old abandoned house, and that well. She didn’t need any blood herself, but her inquisitiveness wouldn’t let it be. Who was that guy? Were he and Sebastian working together? Eva loved a good mystery and this was the perfect opportunity to do some snooping.
“Goodness, are you alright?”
Eva suddenly heard a voice come from somewhere behind her. She stopped, trying to figure out why that voice sounded so familiar. When she turned around, she stood face to face with the gardener. She was wearing that same wide-brimmed hat, only there were no scissors in her hands this time. Instead, she was watering the flower bed around one of the buildings and she’d just popped up out of nowhere while Eva was passing by.
“I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the gardener continued, “I just saw you were hurt.”
“Oh, this?” Eva gestured at her lip. “It’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
Eva could sense the motherly worry in the gardener’s voice and the fact that her own mother would never again kiss her pain away, would never again tell her everything would be alright, even if she herself doubted it, saddened her.
“I’ll be fine,” Eva quickly replied, hoping that she wouldn’t start crying like a baby in front of a total stranger.
“Did you see the nurse?”
“I appreciate the concern, but like I said, I’ll be alright.”
Eva didn’t mean to sound rude, but she just wanted to go on her way and not have to explain herself or lie again about what happened. Once was more than enough.
“Wait a second.”
The gardener turned around, looking for something. A few seconds later, she bent down to pick a little posy of purple flowers. She poured some water on them, then took out a little pocket knife. The blade jumped out like a grasshopper. The gardener cut the flowers into tiny little pieces, then placed them into a cotton handkerchief she took out of her other pocket.
“Here,” she offered her the crushed flowers. “Put these on your cut.”
Eva eyed her weirdly.
“It’s just lavender,” the gardener smiled and the warmth of her smile made Eva instantly feel better. “It’ll help, believe me. It’ll prevent a possible infection and hasten the healing process. It might help with the pain, too.”
“Thanks,” Eva accepted it, then gently pressed the flowers onto the corner of her lip.
The mere pressure made it painful again but a gut feeling told her that she could believe the gardener, even though she had no real proof of this.
“I’m Amelie,” the gardener suddenly introduced herself. “Though, really, very few people here know my name. I’m just the gardener to them.”
She was smiling as she spoke and Eva realized that there was something familiar about this woman, too. As if she had seen her face somewhere before, before she even knew this place existed. Maybe on an old photograph or something but she was sure of it. Positive.
“I’m…” she started but Amelie didn’t allow her to finish.
“Eva,” she nodded. “I know.”
Eva remembered that Amelie had said she knew the names of almost all of the students who attended the academy, so she wasn’t surprised to hear this.
“Word gets around, I guess,” Eva smiled back.
“So, what happened?” Amelie gestured at Eva’s lip again.
Eva sighed. She didn’t want to lie again and why should she? Not like the gardener could or would do anything about it.
“It was a bully.”