Chapter Text
The sun was right in the middle of the afternoon sky but no real warmth could be sensed. Just the regular bitter-sweet taste of dust in the air and maybe a little bit of pre-rain coldness. Nothing that could possibly be counted anyhow different from the other days she spent just living.
She was told that it all depends on what she tells herself, but no matter how many times she did so, she couldn't feel any less helpless.
"Ugh! Just move already!!" her mother shouted out of their car's window. The driver of the front car showed them their middle finger and hit the gas. "I can't believe they even have a licence!" she continued to nag.
Josephine was quite sure her mom was just exaggerating the whole deal, but she didn't have the energy, nor the need to argue. So she just sighed as she rested her head against the cold window, leaving a little of fog there. She looked at the now shady glass and forced her arm up and spelled the words H-A-P-P-Y on it. She then brought her cold pointer finger to her lips and let it rest there, closing her eyes.
It was something between 13th and 16th of June but it was as cold as September, reminding her of the place they were actually heading to and the memory of it made her shiver with frustration.
"Mom?" she suddenly felt the need to talk to her about something, anything.
"Yes, sweetie?" she was no longer upset about that silly driver who decided to park in the middle of the highway to flirt with a random hot chick.
"Do you think I'll pass?" She said the first thing coming to her mind. Then realised what she was actually trying to say was not at all that. "I mean, I will obviously. But is it something that really matters to you? Like, you're going to be really sarcastic about it or something??"
She knew the answer but she felt the unnecessary need to hear one more time, telling herself the satisfying lie that it's the last time she does it.
"Of course Joe! You know that, silly!" She tried a joke afterwards, but her mind was floating somewhere totally else. The same place that she first visited when she was 7, trying her hand at singing. The same place she usually went when she was on her own. When she cried and felt happy at the same time, cause that was all she could manage to do. At times it was dark there, but mostly it was just...enough. Just some place she could be. That was enough.
She suddenly paused at the thought.
At how low her expectations have been... Or became, maybe.
She wanted to live there. Even when she felt like she was being swallowed up by it. Or even when it was filled with voices. Voices that demanded things she couldn't physically nor emotionally fulfil.
She Called it THE PLACE. No words could describe her feelings for it. To have someone, or in her case, somewhere to judge her, help her, hit her, comfort her or anything else while all of it was no doubt honest.
"We're here Joe. They told me the test and interview take an hour and a half in total, but you can leave if you finished earlier. So I'm staying. Love ya, bye!" her mother added the last part just before she could step out of the car, bending her back in way that was surely hurtful and made Joe giggle.
It was her first time somewhere this big and she couldn't stop a little 'Woah' before it was too late.
"Yeah, quite big, huh?" a female voice made her tear her eyes from the enormous building to turn back.
"Huh? Oh yeahhh. You coming for the test too?" she tilted her head a little to the door a couple meters behind her.
The girl cracked a little giggle and nodded.
"Welp. Wish ya luck I guess! But honestly, what do they even do with all these classrooms? I mean, how many classes should be held to fill such... SPACE!!!"
Josephine moved her hands at her sides to mimic the last part of her sentence and faked a very exaggerated 'wondering' expression.
"Pfft. I don't know either. I haven't seen anything like this either." the other girl smiled.
In the past couple seconds Joe took the chance to get a better look at the girl's appearance. She was her height, something between 160 and 165. Long, blond hairs that perfectly framed her circular face. Her eyes were dark blue, so dark she barely caught it. Her lips and nose were in perfect sync, giving her face just enough of everything. She was wearing icy blue Jeans and a jacket of the same color over a white shirt, matching her slightly lighter skin.
"What'cha name by the way, cutie pie?" Joe pointed at her eyes, now shining brightly when she was laughing.
"Pffft. Uh...if we meet again, don't call me cutie pie, please. Unless you just went through a case of 'love at first sight'. But anyways, it's Emma. Call me Em if we get to be friends."
"Okay. I'm Josephine. Call me Joe if we get to be friends." she smiled friendly and shrugged.
"I..." Emma was cut off by the voice of the principal, suddenly coming through all speakers around the school yard.
"Dearest students, your interview starts in 7 minutes. Please look at the board now in the right corner of the area and enter as your name and number have been read. Wishing luck for all of you."
When the two finally got to the board, they had to particularly swim across the crowd to look up their names.
"Josephine Clawstone... Clawstone.. C...C...Aha! 36! Emma?" she looked around to find her and she did. She pointed at the other corner of the enormous yard, signaling her to meet her there. About 40 seconds later they were both back at the doorway of the corridor that led to the interview room.
"I'm 32. Wait, no, 36. You?" Josephine scratched the back of her head and tilted it a bit in a gesture of confusion.
"4. Stinks to have a last name like Ativian. I'm used to it by now." she shook her head like she was shaking off her last name off of herself.
The next 15 minutes passed, and the girls kept talking and laughing.
"... And I told him: do you have any idea who I am? I am the second daughter of the president of France! Then he looked at my face and guess what... He bowed. Can you believe that!"
Emma was almost out of breath when she tried and failed to answer: "... N.... NO WA.. WAY..! He.. He bought it..!? Oh...oh my GOD!"
And that was number 4 was read through the speaker.
"Oh... Oh my god. Wish me... Wish me luck."
"Kay... Bye!!!"
Josephine was sitting alone in their corner for the next 7 minutes and when Emma finally came back she was smiling ear to ear.
"It was awesome!! They said I'll definitely pass but because of 'formality'..." she used her fingers to put the word in quotation marks. "... They won't be giving me any physical approval. I can't believe it! It was just like my mom told me! It was much easier than what I was prepared for. Do you think they'd approve you too? I bet they would, if that's how low their standards are there's a very low chance someone like you doesn't enroll!!" she was so happy she tripped over her words mid-sentence.
"Woah, woah! Calm down girl!!!!" Joe was also smiling wide at her happiness.
They talked and laughed until the speaker finally read the number 36 and Joe stood up and waved at Emma. She was not worried, unlike how she showed. She was self conscious enough to know she had more than enough in factors they were asking for: high intelligence, high EQ, happy family, good talker, ...
So she stepped in confidently, ready to face everything they had.
---
"Oh, hello! Josephine Clawstone, right? Take a seat, won't you."
The examiner was a woman somewhat at her forties. She wore rectangular glasses, had dark purple lipstick on and her black hair was carefully combed down her sharply angled face. Her clothes were also pretty simple but gave her a prestigious look: A white button-up shirt with a navy vest over it. Josephine couldn't catch a glimpse any further down under the table she was sitting behind.
"Why, I sure will with pleasure to be in front of such admirable sight, miss..?" she specifically added the 'miss' part to please her.
"Oho! You are one respectful young lady. I'm Mrs. Witherson. Let's begin shall we?" Miss Witherson lowered her glasses to take a better look at the girl in front of her.
"Of course." she faked a smile.
"Well, here I have your past years results and I'm pleased with them. The lowest grade I see here is an 18.5 from...Geology and an 18.75 from social studies. I can say I'm satisfied with the rest. Any comments, dear?" she looked up from the papers in her hand to look at Joe.
She responded immediately: "Oh no, not at all. Please, continue."
"Very well. I would have asked you about your social state in your previous school, but you've already impressed me enough I don't think that's needed to." she smiled again.
"Oh my, this is nothing but your absolute kindness to me. I think answering the question even though you're being very generous with me is necessary." she used her hands slightly to strengthen the effect.
"If you insist darling."
"Well, I am pretty good at making strong impressions of myself according to the situation, and usually I make friends easily. Though that leaves me with other issues I have to attend to on my own. My relationship with my teachers is usually friendly but sometimes my curiosity gets on their nerves. And I agree that it is my fault, but I can't help the sudden questions that pop up in my mind." Josephine smiles.
"Well I can't ask for more. But I should warn you, our teachers are both sensible and sensitive. You'd better learn to control yourself on some of your classes. Though only if you pass the test. Talking of which, I think I've got the answers I needed to hear. Now I'm asking you to write down your answers to the questions I'm going to show you in a minute on the answer sheet in front of you, alright?" she pointed at the paper under Joe's hands and after a moment she gave her a question sheet.
"Thank you, Mrs. Witherson. May I start?"
"Of course. You have 10 minutes to answer them, one for each question. Write your answers with black pen please."
Couple of minutes later, she was out of the room, chatting about absolutely nothing with Emma in the yard. She told her the test was so difficult and Emma must have been top student that have passed it. That was a lie, but she liked the shine in her eyes after hearing that.
They avoided the subject mostly, talking about family and past schools. An hour and a half passed and they were out of topics to talk about. And then the bell rang once again, and they were informed that the results will be told 4 days later. Emma and Joe traded phone numbers and waved each other goodbye