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The silver sky is filled with rain on a groggy Monday morning. The yellows buses release swathes of kids, a mass of chatter and brightly colored umbrellas as they run to try and beat the weather. By the time the bells rings they’re all in their classes with only a few scuttling through the front doors, hurrying to get to get to class. One of these stragglers is Madeline Bonnefoy, a relatively medium sized girl with a plain face and a plain braid with a plain black backpack. She was a perfectly ordinary girl, but her mind was a laboratory for creation. As she ran through the halls her visuals bursted with colors and ideas, thinking what she will next write or paint. And so a perfectly ordinary girl was truly extraordinary.
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The school day is well on its way at lunch. The school cafeteria is filled with a droning roar of students talking and chatting while in the commons area people play games and socialize. Ms. Bonnefoy sits on a bench by the well sketching away because there’s nothing else to do. Occasionally she looks up to see her sister who is usually preoccupied with some form of sport or is surrounded by a large crowd of friends. Her sister who is too good for her, her wonderful sister whom everyone praises. Amelia F. Jones; varsity captain of girls track and volleyball, prom and homecoming queen, and the leader of girls’ state. Madeline is always sure that if anyone were to ask, no one would know she had a younger sister. The younger sister who always sat in the corners and sketched quietly, out of everyones way. The younger sister who was so terribly invisible to the world.
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Madeline first meets Anya in third period english. They are assigned as partners for a book report, the book is their choice with certain limitations. The small, plain girl has always been intimidated by the other who is anything but plain with her extreme height, stark blond hair, and deep violet eyes. Her greeting smile seems artificial and menacing as they begin to swap numbers so that they may work on the project outside of the classroom.
The day is set when they are both free the following Thursday. The dreary weather has barely let up and has only left the gray sheet of clouds covering the sun. They meet at a small coffee shop near the school and Madeline arrives with a laptop and a list of books in her hand. Anya arrives with nothing. Madeline, frustrated tries to work with her the best she can. her nonchalant attitude makes it easy to choose a book, The Scarlet Letter which is one of Madeline’s favorites. Her nonchalant attitude does make it difficult to do any work though. Two weeks pass and nothing has changed, the report only remains half-finished. The next time they meet she is furious.
“Have you even read the book?” she says as calmly as possible through gritted teeth.
“I have.” Anya says while scrolling on her phone. “I hate it.”
Madeline scowls. “Why? I think it’s a great story.”
“Everyone treated her like shit when they were all just as bad.”
“But that’s the point!” Madeline exclaims, exasperated. “Hawthorne was incredibly critical of the puritan society and this whole book is about his point of view.”
“But she deserved it too.”
“Sorry but why?”
“Because she cheated. Shouldn’t we all have a scarlet A taped to our foreheads though, because we’re all sinners at heart? There’s no saviour for us.” Anya glanced up at Madeleine as she talked then resumed scrolling. Madeleine was taken aback by this sudden discussion.
“Alright well then write it, write something.”
“I cannot. I don’t write well.”
“Yes you can, I know you can and you will!”
The next day they met and Anya handed her three pieces of paper. Twelve point font, Times New Roman and all. She handed it to her, then walked out. Perplexed but satisfied Madeleine turned them in to the teacher the day after that. Anya was conveniently not in class.
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The next time they meet is on a bus only a month later. Madeleine happened to board a full city bus with only one open seat next to a familiar girl with stark blond hair and a pink scarf around her neck. They ride in an uncomfortable silence. Just before Anya gets off two stops after she gives a curious look to Madeleine and says “You should cut your hair. It would look better short.”
On Monday no one takes notice of Madeleine Bonnefoy’s new haircut except for a girl sitting two rows back who is toying with her pink scarf and chewing gum.
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Three weeks later Madeleine receives a call from Anya, an unexpected surprise. She wants her to meet her at the mall. Madeleine obliges and they go see a movie, then they walk aimlessly around.
“Why did you invite me out?” Madeleine asks her.
“Because I suppose you needed to do something. All you do all day is sit in the corner and draw, it seems boring.” Anya is as neutral as ever but Madeleine feels there is something else. However she remained silent and was content, in truth, to be doing something for a change.
--- --- ---
Hours and days and weeks passed again and it was winter time. More often Madeleine will receive calls ordering her to go places with which she happily complies. They often say little on these outings and are downright dead at school, but through what little is exchanged Madeleine gleans some new information from Anya. For example she enjoys baking.
And her favorite color is purple.
And she has an admiration for the finer arts of literature.
And she has two younger brothers over whom she was very protective.
Christmas eve she receives another call to meet Anya at a local park. Madeleine slips on her coat and boots and quietly shuts the door behind her. In the kitchen she can hear her sister and mother arguing again just before she leaves.
The park ground is coated with a light dusting of snow. The street lights come on despite the fact that it is only just past six in the evening. When she comes to the park she spotted Anya on the swings. Silently she sits next to her and limply pushes herself back and forth. The stark blond hair has fallen over Anya’s face and in her hands she twists and untwists the scarf again and again. Madeleine sits in silence, and waits for Anya to speak. An hour passes. And another after that.
“I could not protect them any more.” She finally says, quietly.
“What happened?” Madeleine asks.
Anya responds by handing her phone to Madeleine. The screen is riddled with cracks but she sees clearly a text conversation; and her heart sinks.
“I should have been there” Anya says, her voice hoarse.
“But there’s no way you could have stopped this...Anya...I’m so sorry.” Anya says nothing, just sits on the swing. Madeleine looks back at the screen. At the messages sent, and at the one confirming the deaths of Anya’s two brothers in a car crash just at noon that day. She slips the phone in her pocket and gets off her swing. Madeleine kneels in front of Anya’s hunched over figure and wraps her arms around her. Anya does not move and they sit in a silent embrace. The sky is black before Madeleine move again,
“I need to go home, but please call me tomorrow.” Anya doesn’t respond. “Anya please look at me.” She raises her head ever so slightly and their eyes meet. Madeleine’s are kind and sad, and Anya’s are devastated and full of wrath. “Promise me you’ll call tomorrow. Don’t do anything rash. Promise me Anya.” She only grunts in response and Madeleine takes that as good enough. “Please don’t hurt yourself” Madeleine whispers and stands. She puts her lips to the top of Anya’s head like her mother used to do to comfort her as a child. Then she sets Anya’s phone on the ground in front of her and walks home.
She comes home and is reprimanded for being out late and not telling anyone where she was. Madeleine hears it all as a raging buzz in hers ears as she thinks about the events that had just transpired. She just wants to go to sleep.
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Madeleine’s phone wakes her at 7:03 the next morning. Groggily, the blond-haired girl answers and snaps awake at Anya’s quiet greeting. She leaves a note for her mother on the table and meets Anya at the same park as the night before. It looks like she hadn’t moved all night. Anya’s hair still spills in a silvery curtain around her face. Madeleine quietly sits next to her again and leans on Anya’s hunched shoulders. The position is awkward on the swings but comforting between friends.
“Why did you invite me out?” Madeleine asks quietly.
“Because...I suppose I needed something to do.” Anya’s voice trembles. She seems a shell of the previously nonchalant and intimidating girl from third period english.
“Come on, let’s go somewhere.” Madeleine stands but Anya doesn’t move. So Madeleine slowly takes Anya’s hands and pulls her into a standing position. She doesn’t resist. “Come on, dance with me, eh?” Gently she sways, Anya’s hands in hers. Madeleine hums a song her mother used to hum to her. Slowly Anya starts moving with her, and Madeleine moves closer and pulls her into a slow dance with her arms wrapped around Anya’s neck.
The morning mist seems to hold time still as the two girls move together. When the quiet song comes to an end they stand where they are, with the quiet calm of christmas morning surrounding them. Amelia finds Madeleine and Anya in the same position half an hour later at their mothers orders. Christmas ends and so do the winter holidays.
--- --- ---
April is still cold and damp. Students are busier than ever preparing for the end of the term in two months. Madeleine and Anya don’t see each other as much as before but still just enough. They spend their weekends side by side, quiet as always. Somedays they talk of anything under the sun and beyond even that, somedays Anya is overcome with grief and Madeleine simply sits by her side no matter what; others they’re content just to snuggle together with a movie on screen.
One of these days they’re laying on Madeleine’s bedroom floor. They talk and talk and the talk becomes more intimate. Secrets, pasts, revealed. They are vulnerable to each other in the best ways possible. The only real friend either one has ever had lays next to her on the carpeted floor. They are in love with each other in the deepest sort of meaning you could find.
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June arrives and the school year ends. The students are chatting and giggling and counting down the last ten seconds until another summer of freedom. Their hoots ring through the halls and people run out of the doors with school papers flying from their fingertips. Madeleine celebrates quietly, smiling and laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. She is cheering when she is grabbed by her wrist and is kissed in the crowd by a very tall girl with long stark-blond hair and deep violet eyes. She is let go, breathless and utterly confused. Laughing nervously she pulls Anya in for another kiss, sweeter than the first. The crowd around them fizzes away and in that moment they are the only people on earth.
They leave the school and go to the same park from Christmas and they dance again but to a happier tune full of kisses and laughs and awkward smiles. Madeleine is mesmerized and entranced in violet eyes, her fingers find their ways through the silvery blond strands. Dusk falls and the moon rises. It is late before Madeleine parts ways at her front door. Her heart is full and her head is dizzy as she falls asleep that night with a smile on her face.
--- --- ---
It is fall again and tearful goodbyes are made as they go their separate ways. The outside world calls to the girls. They embrace one last time and thank each other for all they had done. Madeleine and Anya vow to meet again as they drive in different directions. The following Monday the weather is dreary and buses offload children at a school. They all clamor and shuffle, unaware of what the future could possibly hold.