Over the next few weeks, Lily seems to appear everywhere and she always wants to hang around me. I mean I don't really care. Sure, she makes some weird faces I don't quite understand, but overall she seems pretty harmless. I think she feels comfortable around me since I saved her from the perverts. She is a good friend. She eats lunch with me on the roof. She often feeds me food from her lunches and I reciprocate because that is what you do in friendships. She asked if I could escort her every day. She says she prefers to be escorted to her classes by me instead of anyone else. She always holds onto me so tightly, too. Her breasts always smush against my arm as I escort her places. Being a lesbian, it is very hard to miss something like that. Rose has seen me with her a few times and she also makes a weird face. I mouth the words 'I love you' every time I see her from afar.
The boys in the other class hate me more since I have 'stolen' Lily from them. I don't understand though. Rose is the only one I care for and desire. Though they never bothered asking me anything though. They will make it a point to purposely bump into me in the hallways to make me drop things I am carrying. I was bullied in my last life too. I can handle this level of bullying with no sweat. I can bend down and just pick whatever I was carrying back up again. Sometimes they throw it out the window. I don't fight them back here. It isn't worth my energy so I just humor them and take their abuse, but I will give them a snarky attitude while I take it. Plus, it isn't like they are actually hurting me. They can get their aggression out on me and leave the other girls alone. Bright side, my hand is completely healed now so I can beat them up if I choose to.
I have been getting a lot of headaches here recently and waking up in the night with feverish night sweats. I think I should tell Nurse Joy since it may be related to that collapse or it might be something different. Hopefully it isn't something too serious. Finding time to talk with her is the thing because those boys seem to run into me almost everywhere except around mine and Rose's dorm. At least our time is still sacred. I am getting very tired though. Sometimes I just want to beat them all senseless, but that would cause problems for me if there isn't just cause. Shoot, even with a just cause it would still probably cause problems. Let me be realistic. This is a world where women are treated as second class citizens. I will only raise my fists against them if they try to harm me or someone else.
I get a headache during morning classes and go to the nurse's office. I walk in and Nurse Joy asks, "Miss Treece, how are you feeling today?" I shake my head, "I have a sharp headache that just came on and feel like I need to lie down." Nurse Joy asks, "Has anything else been happening besides these headaches?" She says as she grabs me some medicine to take for my headache. I respond, "I have been waking up in the middle of the night sweating with what seems to be a fever very frequently. Well at least, frequently enough to notice." I take the medicinal concoction Nurse Joy prepared sitting on the bed and she examines my eyes closely, "Hmmmm. It could very well be separate issues, but it could also be one issue causing all of your symptoms. I am anticipating some sort of results soon about your blood work. Assuming they won't treat you like most women. It might be different since you are a noblewoman." She says as I lay down and put my head on the pillow in the bed while she pulls up the covers. She continues, "Get some rest." I ask, "Can you wake me up if I am not up already after classes normally get out? I talk with Rose everyday after classes and she will be worried if I miss today with no heads up." Nurse Joy says while moving some hair out of my face, "Sure, I can do that. Though if you look like you need it I will let you keep sleeping and I will just notify Miss Remington for you. I am sure she will understand." I sigh, "Ok, that works too." She gets up and closes the curtain around the bed so I have privacy for my nap. I fell asleep almost immediately.
I wake up close around dusk. Nurse Joy is nowhere to be seen. I assume she told Rose like she said she was going to. I go to my dorm and get my phone and then take it to Rose's room. I take the lunch I didn't eat and the snacks I would have had the appetite for if I didn't nap so Rose can snack too. I get to her window and throw pebbles up to her window until she opens it up. She seems very relieved to see me. She grabs the cup and says, "I was so worried. I thought those bullies in my class might have taken things too far. Somebody finally said that the nurse was looking for me and she finally told me you were lying down in the infirmary. I was so relieved to hear it wasn't what I feared. Are you feeling better now?"
I tug on the line stretching from my long much needed nap, "I feel a lot better now. Especially now that I see you. You always brighten up my day." Rose tugs on the line, "So I have been meaning to ask, what is Lily's relationship to you? I have noticed she has been clinging to you a lot recently." I tug on the line, "She is just a friend. I just figured she was clingy after I saved her from the perverts to feel safe." Rose tugs on the line, "I see. I should have figured that is how you saw things. Lily has a way of saying some things that make me jealous sometimes." I tug on the line, "What kind of things does she say to you?" She tugs on the line, "Well there was one time she said you helped her out of her uniform, but it was how she said it." I laugh and tug on the line, "That is one way to describe it. Ha ha. She left out some crucial details. It was after she was groped by the perverts and she asked me if I could help her get a new uniform since she would feel more comfortable wearing the boy's uniform instead. So I then proceeded to help her through the whole process and make sure she got safely back to her room afterwards. It was the same day we did the maiden voyage of the cart so I left her at her door so I could go back to the workshop."
Rose tugs on the line and sighs a sigh of relief, "So she is just messing with me then." I tug on the line, "Why would she mess with you Rose?" Rose tugs on the line and sighs, "You obviously. She has feelings for you." I tug on the line, "How do you know?" Rose tugs on the line, "It is all in how she looks at you." I tug on the line, "So when she makes that weird face she is making that face you are talking about?" Rose then says, "Yes. Please be careful around her. She might try to make a move on you soon." I tug on the line, "Ok, I trust you whole heartedly." Though Lily seems harmless, I will trust in Rose. I continue, "I still would like to protect her. Those boys have said some pretty disgusting things while they were bullying me about her and her body and it terrifies me what they will do to her. I will make sure she understands that I have no feelings for her. I will talk with her at lunch tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes."
Rose tugs on the line, "I don't want anything bad to happen to her either, but at the same time I don't want to lose you because she stole you away." I tug on the line, "The one who stole my heart in this life's name is not Lily, but Rose Remington. ROSE. REMINGTON." Rose tugs on the line, "Are you sure though? She is very beautiful and can actually touch you whenever she desires." I tug on the line, "I said what I said. She may be beautiful and not affected by this curse, but she is not you. Let me rephrase it. She could arrive at my door tonight wearing nothing but a smile and I would still turn her away. I mean I would obviously give her something to cover up with for modesty purposes before sending her away but you get my point. The only one I desire to be with romantically is you."
Rose tugged on the line, "Did women actually do that in the other world? Showing up naked, I mean." I laugh and tug on the line, "No. I mean they could have. It wasn't uncommon for lovers to surprise each other by being naked under a trenchcoat or something like that. They weren't just walking around with their tatas hanging out." Rose tugs on the line laughing, "'Walking around with their tatas hanging out'. That just seems so funny to me. Now I am just imagining a bunch of women just walking around naked acting normal." I tug on the line, "There were actually nudist colonies in the other world where it was normalized to walk around naked. I personally like being modest and covered up, but some people liked the freedom that nudity brought."
Rose tugs on the line very interested, "Freedom in nudity. I never would have thought of it like that. That is very interesting. Were they not scared of being assaulted?" I tug on the line, "There were rules that mainly prevented assaults in those communities but they happened everywhere even though there were laws against it. The culture wasn't as bad as it is in this world. In comparison women were a lot safer. Even so, I personally would conceal carry a firearm since I received threats for being lesbian." Rose tugs the line, "I thought you said they had more rights in that world?" I tug on the line, "Well they did, but people still harbored prejudice against our kind of people. I received many rape and death threats from men claiming I haven't had the right dick yet. I would respond 'So you are saying you would turn gay for the right dick?' They almost always would say, 'That isn't the same!' But isn't it though?" Rose tugs the line laughing, "That is a great response. I love that. It really is the same thing." We continued talking for a while eating the food I brought to munch on while we talked. She didn't keep me up too awful late tonight, but we did stay up pretty late for a midweek school night.
I wait until lunch to talk with Lily so we have privacy on the roof. I ask her when we are alone, "Lily, Rose mentioned something and I have to ask you. Do you maybe have feelings for me?" Lily responds while making a weird face, "So you haven't noticed?" I shake my head, "So I take it she was right." Lily says while slowly closing the gap of space between us, "I think you are amazing, Violet. I like you a lot. You are such a strong woman, and I want to be just like you. You are my knight in shining armor." I respond, "I like you too, but only as a friend. I hope you don't misunderstand. I only have romantic feelings for Rose." Lily gets a bit of passion in her voice, "Why her? You can't even touch her. Not like you can touch me. There is even a lily in your house crest like it was fate that I, Lily, met you. You are the leopard to my Lily." She says as she approaches me for what I assume is a kiss.
I put my hand up as a barrier and barely touch her lips with my fingers while I say, "I am sorry. I can't return your feelings. I can't control what my heart yearns for. You deserve someone who can grow old with you and loves you for everything that you are and not just your beauty. We can still hang out, but you need to know I only see you as a friend. You don't have to worry about me leaving you to hang in front of those perverts if you are worried about that. I could wind up hating you, but would still never wish that upon you."
She backs away and pouts while we continue to eat our lunch. Hypothetically, even if I was interested in her I would still die an early death because of this damned prophecy and that would only hurt her more. She deserves someone else regardless that can actually return her feelings. She sheds a few tears and part of me wants to wipe them away, but after realizing her actual feelings she might misunderstand that gesture. I pass her my decorative silk handkerchief instead so she can wipe them herself. After she wipes them she clutches my handkerchief and asks, "This may sound weird, but can I have this?" I wave my hand, "Sure, I have countless handkerchiefs. I definitely won't miss one." She wipes her tears one more time and smiles looking at the handkerchief, "Thank you, Violet." I say "Mhhmhmm. That's what friends are for." She holds the handkerchief tightly as if it might fly away the rest of our time up here on our lunch break. I of course escort her back to her classroom. I have to leave immediately so as to not run into Rose by accident. The boys always take it upon themselves to bully me in these moments.
As I turned to leave the boys threw me against the wall making me drop the few little books I was carrying. The one they called Boss, who was one of the perverts who has styled swoopy noble styled black hair that Rose told me his name is Giovanni says, "Whoops. Sorry, did not see you there." Laughing like fucking dorks. My shoulder feels a little sore, but I am ok. I snapped back with an attitude like usual, "You might want to get a doctor to assess your eyes then." Giovanni says while slamming his hand against the wall beside my head, "I don't like your tone. I suggest you fix that, she-he." He glares at me up and down then he then turns to look at Lily and gives her an unpleasant look then he goes into the classroom. I start to feel gross and I turn to see Rose looking at me with a weird face while I am now picking up my books. I smile after seeing her because I can't help it and mouth the words 'I love you' and she mouths it back. I leave immediately to get away from Rose. As I am walking away my head starts hurting again. It doesn't seem too bad today so I just deal with it and go back to class.
After class, I still have this headache but I have gotten pretty used to it by this point. I go to my dorm and await my love. I feel the tug finally and Rose asks, "Violet, are you ok? How is your shoulder?" I tug and respond, "I will be fine don't worry about me. It might leave a light bruise. It is better they have their attention on me than the other girls." Rose tugs on the line, "Well, I don't like it. Why don't you just beat them up like you did that one time?" I tug on the line, "If I fight back, they will just start harassing someone else. They aren't really hurting me right now, just being a slight annoyance. Everything is fine." Rose tugs on the line, "Are you sure? It seemed like you were thrown into the wall pretty hard earlier." I tug on it, "I will be fine. Don't worry about me. It didn't even bother me enough to go see the nurse."
Rose tugs on the line a little frantically, "Wait, you haven't seen the nurse yet?" I tug on the line, "It will be fine. I have had more contact playing knocker with the guys. I probably have more bruises from playing knocker than what the bullies gave me today. If they ever really try to harm me while they bully me or try to harm someone else, I will fight back then ok?" Rose tugs on the line and groans, "Uuuuugh fine. I still don't like you being put in this situation. I wish I could fight so I could beat them up for you." I tug on the line, "You know I just had an idea. I could teach a self defense seminar for the girls here and I can get another girl to teach you after the seminar because of obvious reasons. How does that sound? I can teach some basic maneuvers that are effective against men." Rose tugs on the line, "That sounds great. I am sure the girls would really love that. I will ask them tomorrow and see what they think. If they won't I know at least Mia, Heather and probably Lily will be interested."
I tug on the line, "I really want Lily to be there. Those boys would say very gross things that were really disturbing about Lily. I want her to know the basics of defending herself just in case. Nobody should ever feel that gross disgusting feeling ever." Rose tugs on the line, "I agree with you. I just hate that you are bearing the weight on your shoulders. I wish there was something I could do." I tug on the line, "Just keep writing your fan-fiction and talking to me like this. When I talk to you, all the stress that weighs on my shoulders releases and I can relax. Only you can give me that peace of mind. Not anyone else living in this world." Rose tugs on the line while looking mildly irritated, "I meant anything more than what I am currently doing." I tug on the line, "I will let you know if there is something you could do for me. As of right now, everything you are doing is already exactly what I need." Rose sighs then tugs on the line, "Ok. Well, I will always be here for you. Just let me know if there is ever anything and I will do it for you."
A knock at the door interrupts our conversation. I tug on the line, "Hold up Rose, someone is knocking at my door." I open it and a faculty member hands me a letter that appears from the guild. I open it and they say they found a few candidates and to come by tomorrow afternoon to evaluate them. They said that it took a while to find candidates that fulfilled my base conditions. Translation, there were a lot of perverts.
I go back to the cup and tug and say, "It looks like some contenders to be your bodyguard have appeared. We will have to push our talk tomorrow back so I can go to the guild hall after school." Rose tugs on the line, "That seems like it took a long time. The requirements you provided didn't seem that hard. I wonder if all of the competent ones they had were just perverts or something and they had to search for others." I tug on the line, "Probably. I am just hoping someone I deem worthy is there. I would feel a huge weight off of my shoulders if I knew you were safe at all times. I am terrified this curse will hurt you." Rose tugs on the line, "I hope everything works out tomorrow. I think I will go and work on some homework now so you can get some rest. You are looking a bit pale up there, Violet. I love you." I tug on the line back, "I love you too." I didn't realize the color in my face had changed. Maybe this headache is worse than I thought. I would normally try to do a workout but I think I might lie down instead. Rose did say to get some rest. Just as the body needs exercise, it also needs rest. I do have those fights tomorrow so I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.