Stepping into her room, Julie closed the door and leaned her back against it. A soft sigh escaped her lips.
Back then, when the door of Roman's room had opened, it had turned her pale. He had even gone to the extent of pushing her against the wall, and it had frightened her. But she hadn't expected Roman actually to walk her until her Dormitorium, and now that he did, she wondered what had changed his mind.
"Everything is okay," whispered Julie to herself.
She had escaped Roman Moltenore's wrath and had delivered Eleanor's letter. Pushing herself, she walked to her bed and sat down. Picking up the letter placed at the window, she noticed her letter had not been picked. Putting it back at its place, she laid on her side with her back facing the window.
She remembered the little brush of Roman's finger on her wrist, and it had created a jolt in her body. She quickly shook her head.
A few minutes passed, and Julie heard a rustle behind her, along with the night wind that passed through the window.
She quickly sat up and noticed the letter had changed its original position. She quickly pushed open her window and put her head outside to catch sight of the bully, but all she saw was darkness. No one was outside. As tempted as she was to catch the person, she looked at the time and noticed it was thirty past eleven.
"Rule breaker," muttered Julie under her breath and took hold of the letter that was left for her. She opened it to read—
'I have a deal for you.'
What was with everyone trying to strike up a deal with her? Asked Julie to herself before continuing to read.
'If you answer my questions, I will answer certain questions of yours. Your letter will be delivered back to you when I receive all your answers to my questions. PS: But the mummy costume for Halloween stays.'
Julie stared at the letter with suspicion in her eyes. Did the person mean he would give the letter back to her? Taking her book she started to pen down a reply to the person—
'Do you really mean it when you say you will return it back to me? What if you decide to make copies of it and then give me the original one?' Taking a pause, Julie continued to write, 'And what questions do you want to ask me? You won't bully me anymore?'
Considering how he had written that she could ask him a question, she decided to test her luck and added, 'What is your name?'
The next day Julie woke up, her reply was waiting for her, and somewhere she was eager to discover who this unknown person was, who had her letter. Unfolding the letter, the first thing she was greeted with was the expression of annoyance.
'-_- Good try, but no. You wasted your chance on asking a better question, so my turn. Let us start with simple questions. Why do you wear your glasses?'
Reading the last line, Julie's eyes widened. The way he had framed the question, it was obvious that he knew the truth. After gathering her thoughts, she replied to his question—
'It makes me feel safe and covers my face. Like I am being protected by it. How did you know that I don't have an eye sight problem?'
She received her reply in the afternoon when she had gone to the dorm during the lunch hour. As slow as the communication was between her and the letter thief, somewhere it had turned to be the highlight of her days in Veteris.
The thief's note read—'I saw you once walking without the glasses and happened to guess it. It looks like the mummy's attire for Halloween is quite right for you. Might as well start practising using it as you love to hide. Did you know that the more you hide, the more a person gets curious? When did you start wearing the glasses?'
Julie stared at the words. He was so curious about her glasses, did he want to buy one like hers? She wrote back to him—
'I can tell the same about you hiding your identity. I started wearing them more than a year ago. Are you going to buy glasses that you are interested in them?' At least this way, she would know to minus the people wearing glasses not to be the letter thief.
Leaving the letter near the window, Julie locked her dorm before heading back to the class with Melanie. They still had two more classes to attend, one being physical education to keep the students healthy and fit. On their way, Julie caught sight of Eleanor, who stood with her friends huddled around her at the side of the stairs.
Though Julie had delivered the letter last night, she was glad that Eleanor had not come knocking on her door to ask if she had successfully delivered the letter.
When they walked closer to the stairs, Julie saw something she would have never expected to see. Eleanor held a handkerchief in her hand. Her nose had turned red and her eyes puffy as if she had been crying the whole night.
"What happened to her?" Melanie whispered to her.
"I don't know," replied Julie.
Julie then heard one of Eleanor's friends say to her, "You don't have to be hurt over it. He probably was in a bad mood and didn't mean it," and she rubbed her back as if to console her.
"That's true, Eleanor. He would have never hurt you, you are an angel," said another girl. Hearing this, Julie suddenly felt her throat itch, wanting to clear it.
Eleanor looked as if she was in shock and she said, "Last night, when I opened the door I was happy to see him there. So handsome, I thought I was dreaming, and he had my letter in his hand. But then," she paused so that she wouldn't cry, "He tore my letter into small pieces. So small that I cannot even use a tape to fix my first love letter. He looked so mad at me, and I was so scared."
Roman had entered the Dormitorium with her last night, and he had said he had work. Was this the work? Asked Julie, not knowing he would go to Eleanor and give his response to her personally.
"Why don't you go and talk to him now? He must be near his classroom-"
"No!" Eleanor looked as if she was scared. "I don't want to test him. He told me if I don't stop stalking him, he will make me regret it. That I don't deserve him and that my letter sucked."
Her friends looked at each other awkwardly while Eleanor tried to cope with Roman's words.
"He must have mistook someone else's letter to be yours. Did that Mary Jane really give him your letter? Maybe she switched the letter," suggested one of them.
Julie internally rolled her eyes. She didn't have that much free time to do something like that. Maybe if she switched, Eleanor might not have been scolded for her bad letter.
"No, it was my letter didn't," Eleanor shook her head.
"But she-"
"I don't want to talk about her!" Eleanor glared at her friend, who immediately closed her mouth.
Julie and Melanie didn't stay there and continued to climb the stairs before disappearing from their sight.
Melanie said, "She looked upset. Roman must have scared her."
With the way Eleanor looked heartbroken, Julie wondered what exactly Roman said to her, not to mention, the girl didn't even want to blame her for it. On reaching the floor where their class was, Julie turned her head, her brown eyes looking at the classroom that wasn't hers.
Julie caught sight of Roman standing outside his classroom with Simon in front of him. He leaned against the wall, his head tilted as he listened to Simon speak with an aloof expression on his face. She noticed a crooked smile on his face, before replying to his friend.
When Julie had almost reached her classroom, Roman's eyes shifted to look at the corridor, and he noticed her disappear into her classroom. Simon followed Roman's line of sight, wondering what or who he was looking at. He said,
"What do you think is better, Rome? Joker or a pirate?"
"Does it make a difference?" remarked Roman, turning back to look at Simon. "If you want people running away from you, then joker. If you don't, probably pirate."
"Joker it is then. Sinking teeth in terrified people's neck can be done only during Halloween in this place," a chuckle escaped Simon's lips. "It is true. Max is working on convincing Olivia to be Sally so that he can be Jack from that Tim Burton thing. Knowing how he gets under a person's skin, so I think it is already fixed. Tori I don't know. Have you decided what you are picking for a costume?"
Roman had a thoughtful expression on his face and the corner of his lips pulled up. He said, "An archaeologist."
"How boring," muttered Simon.
It was the time of the evening, and the sky had started to change its colour. Three motorcycles rode towards the main gates of Veteris University. Seeing who it was, the watchman pulled open the gate for them to pass, and soon the five students left the campus.
They travelled away from Veteris and heading towards the mountain area, where they could spend their time hunting and doing what they wanted in leisure from the humans' eyes.
"For the hundredth time no," Olivia glared at Maximus, who was trying to persuade her to pair up with him for Halloween. "Why don't you choose one of your playthings?"
"But they wouldn't know how to be a grim woman-Ouch!" Maximus yelped when she hit the back of his head. "What? What did I do?"
"Maybe it is what you didn't do," murmured Simon, and Maximus turned to give him a look.
"But I am asking Sally-I mean Olivia to be my partner," said Maximus, turning back to look at Olivia with a dashing smile.
Roman had taken a seat on one of the branches of the tree, watching the sun subtly moving towards the horizon. Years had passed, but the feeling that this place gave was still the same. The tree was located at the outer edge where his friends were sitting on the rocks and near the cliff. He could see them bickering with each other.
He had removed his leather jacket, sitting there wearing a black T-shirt and his ripped jeans. The two plain rings hung in his chain, the metal reflecting light. Pulling out the letter from his jeans pocket, he unfolded and read with a steady gaze.
He knew she was hiding. With glasses that she didn't need and the sweater that she religiously wore that were of different colours, it was something that he associated herself with. Reading the last line, he rolled his eyes.
"Why would I need glasses for," he muttered under his breath.
To Roman, Julianne Winters was his prey, and he didn't want her to be someone else'. As much as he wanted to see her break the rules, he had decided to pause it after what happened last evening. He was territorial about his things and space, preferring no one to step into it.
When he had opened the door of his dorm, the nerve on his forehead had popped. But the more confusing sight was Julie making his bed proper, and his lips subtly twitched on remembering it. When his thumb had caressed her hand with a mind of its own, he finally understood.
There were scars on her wrists. He couldn't help but wonder if it was inflicted by herself or someone else.
When he had pushed her against the wall, he noticed the innocence mixed with anxiousness in her eyes. Her heart beating loud and clear for him to listen to. And he meant it when he had written to her that the mummy attire suited her as she was fond of covering herself.
Pulling out the pen and pulling out the cap with his teeth, he wrote the reply back to her on the same letter with his left hand—
'Why do I need glasses for when I can just steal them from you? After all, neither of us are short or farsighted. What happened a year ago?
Also, word has been spreading that you went to one of the boy's dorms to hand your love letter. Too in love with the person that you felt the need to break in? Would have never thought you to be this daring.'
A small smirk appeared on Roman's lips as he finished writing it.
Away from him, Olivia turned to look at where Roman was sitting. Looking at the paper in his hand, she asked Simon, "Do you have tests?"
Simon turned his head to look at Roman, "None that I am aware of. Maybe he finally decided to follow Mr. Evans' suggestion of writing down his thoughts and making a journal to handle that temper."
"On paper?" Olivia raised her eyebrows, and Simon nodded his head.
"Carrying pages is easier than carrying books," Simon shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't know what else it could be.
"Rome would never write a journal," commented Victoria, who was sitting on a rock. After a few seconds, she asked, "Is it true that he's tutoring her?"
"Whom?" asked Simon with an oblivious look on his face.
"The human," replied Victoria, and at the same time, Roman jumped down from the tree and landed on the ground, dust lifting up and around his boots.
"I am right here. If you have something to ask, it would be better to ask me directly, Victoria," stated Roman, walking to where everyone was. He had hung his jacket over one of his shoulders.
Simon didn't reply to Victoria's question as Roman was here, and he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Though blood was something that the vampires survived on, some things curbed the thirst, like smoking or consuming alcohol.
"Okay," replied Victoria, and she asked, "Is it true that you are teaching the human girl? I am sure she has teachers and her friends for that."
"She isn't your concern. And neither is whom I teach," Roman's words were blunt.
The long-haired blonde girl pursed her lips, her eyebrows drawing in close, "During Sophomore year, I asked you for your help and you refused saying you don't tutor anyone."
Roman calmly looked at her, "You are a smart student, Victoria. I don't think you need help from me and can figure out things on your own," he raised one of his eyebrows. "Unless you are telling me that you are finding it hard even though you have spent more years than the human who joined this year?"
"I never said that," responded Victoria.
"Good," and Roman walked to where Simon was, picking up one of the cigarettes from the pack.
When he placed the cigarette between his lips, he heard Olivia speak, "Did you know that a few days ago Evans caught her and some of the girls in the forest? One of them being Eleanor, the one whom you went to speak to. Since when did you start tearing letters in front of girls instead of throwing them in the trash?"
"It was an eyesore. I thought it would deliver the message quicker to the others too," Roman lit the cigarette with the lighter while using one of his hands to shield the flame from the wind.
"What were they doing in the forest?" asked Maximus, his interest piquing.
Taking a drag, Roman blew the smoke into the air and said, "Who knows. I only saw him walking her and the girls to the dorm near the edge of the forest. It was the same night when they found Stacey Hopkins' body."
"Sometimes I feel Evans is the one who kills people and brings them back to the private infirmary," Maximus casually said, and Olivia's lips twitched.
"You should say that in front of him. I am sure he would be very delighted to hear it," commented Olivia, getting up from her seat and dusting her back.
"If I don't want to survive the remaining days in Veteris, sure. Looks like it is finally time to hunt," said Maximus, cracking his fingers and stretching his body. "Do you remember the first time we came to hunt here?"
Roman turned to look at the forest that looked dark with the crickets chirping in the trees and the bushes. He responded, "I don't think anyone can ever forget it."
"I don't think it is anyone's fondest memory," muttered Victoria, coming to stand next to Olivia.
When one of their watches beeped, the ones who had been sitting stood up and stepped into the forest, starting their hunt.
After returning to Veteris, the five went to their dorms while Roman made his way to drop the letter. He looked behind him, making sure no one was following him, licking the corner of his lips that had traces of blood as he walked towards his former room.
He noticed the study lamp still burning in the corner of the room, and Julie was sitting at her desk, studying. Looking at the time, he saw it was past twelve.
A few minutes later, Julie yawned and decided to call it a night. Closing the books and turning off the study lamp, she climbed on her bed and noticed the window ajar.
"How do you do that?" whispered Julie, locking the window again and picking up the new envelope. After reading it, she closed her eyes. Did everyone know that she had broken into Roman's room?! How embarrassing. God only knew why Eleanor had not come banging on her door.
Julie replied to the letter—
'It wasn't my confession letter! I was only delivering another person's letter to him and I am not in love with him! How do you open my window every time? You must be a robber to be able to open my window that I lock with so much ease. This time it is my turn to ask, I didn't ask you last time either. Two questions.'
Julie paused for a moment, trying to make her questions worthwhile so that it wouldn't be skipped. There was something she wanted to confirm, and after some thought, she wrote down—
'You are a boy, aren't you? Why are you always outside the Dormitorium past the curfew time?'
The following day, Julie received her answers—
'Your guess is correct, Troublemaker. For the second question of yours, it is because I can. Impressed with my skills? If I am robber, you should be careful of your things, you never know what I might steal one day. I have climbed in and out of the dorm that you are living in countless times in the past. Which is why I know exactly how to open the window without making a sound.'
But Melanie had told her that this room had been locked since she had joined Veteris.
Pulling her blanket close, Julie brought her book and placed the letter on her lap. As he hadn't asked her anything, she asked—
'What did you mean by climbing in and out of this room? Was this your secret hideout, because my source said that this dorm has been locked for quite some time now. By the way, do you know the history of these Dormitoriums?'
Would the letter thief know about it? Julie asked herself. It was something she had been curious about since she had discovered a note in the walls of this room.
Before heading to the library, Julie went to her dorm and picked up the letter that the letter thief had left her—
'Ah ah ah. Not so fast, troublemaker. The rules are mine and you seem to have forgotten to reply back to one of my questions. Here's a little motivation, I have the answers to your questions, but don't think I will be giving it to you that easily. Haven't you heard the give and take policy of the bully? You answer my question without a single word of lie and then I will give you your answers.'
Julie bit her bottom lip. She should have known that he wouldn't reply to her that easily.
Looking at the watch, she noticed the time was ticking and realized she was late. Locking the door, she half ran, and half walked to the library. This morning when she had woken up, she had forgotten about Roman tutoring her today, and it was only a couple of minutes ago did she remember it. On her way, she met Dennis, who waved at one of his classmates, and when he turned around, he caught sight of her.
"Are you visiting the library?" asked Dennis, his eyes falling on her bag.
"Yes," Julie said breathlessly, and he smiled at her.
"I am glad to hear that. I am on my way to go there too," stated Dennis, and he started to walk next to her. "Is the textbook you borrowed due in a few minutes?"
"Huh?" she asked, confused.
"Because it looks like you just ran," Dennis looked in the direction Julie had come before turning back to look at her.
"Oh, no," Julie smiled, linking her thumbs into the sides of her bag on the front. "I have a study session with someone."
They had reached the front of the library entrance, and Dennis asked, "Is it with Moltenore?" his expression turned serious as if he didn't like her mingling with Roman.
Right on time, Roman appeared in front of the entrance from the opposite direction. He looked at Julie and then at Dennis, who stood next to her.
Dennis stared at Roman with distaste in his mouth. He hadn't forgotten the way three days ago Roman had disregarded his very existence in the lunchroom. He said, "It must be bad luck calling people's names who are delinquents."
Roman, who was leisurely chewing the gum, said, "You know what they say. Speak of the devil's name and he doth appear." His eyes fell on Julie, and he said, "Get your textbook. Didn't I tell you to not make me wait or did you decide to forget?"
Before Julie took a step forward, Dennis raised his hand and Roman's eyes subtly narrowed at the little action while still keeping a calm face. Julie was surprised, and she looked at Dennis, who said,
"Stop trying to threaten her to get your way."
"It is fine, Dennis," Julie assured him, and Dennis lowered his hand with a slight frown.
Roman then said, "She doesn't have any problem, so why are you meddling in it? Instead of offering help, maybe you should help yourself in getting higher grades than me," he raised his eyebrow. "Don't do what you did now ever again. I cannot assure you if your glasses will stay intact," and he stepped inside the library.
A little awkward, Julie said, "You don't have to worry about me, Dennis. He only means to help me with the subject."
Dennis pursed his lips and then said, "Let me know if you need my help. I will be here." Julie nodded her head and stepped into the building, walking forward to pick up the textbook. Dennis, who stood there, muttered under his breath, "I thought today we would be studying together."
Picking up the textbook, Julie made her way up the stairs, passing the racks on her right before seeing Roman, who was already sitting there with his legs crossed. When she entered his vision, she sensed him glaring at her.
Julie took a seat and placed the textbook on the table as if nothing had happened a while ago at the entrance. Pulling out her notebook from her bag, she placed her pens on the side and then opened the page they were going to continue studying. When Roman didn't say anything, she slowly looked up, noticed him watching her.
"You look angry," Julie stated the obvious.
This only poured oil into little flame to burn more. While Roman uncrossed his legs to place them flat on the ground, his knee hit the table, and for a second, it made Julie's heart slip from her chest.
"Aren't you smart," remarked Roman and Julie's lips twitched while she tried not to smile. "Why do you think I am angry?"
"It is kinda hard to say…" her words trailed at the end, and his eyes narrowed.
Roman snatched her notebook from the table, writing something on it before handing it back to her. He then said, "Let us see if you can solve what we discussed two days ago. You have five minutes."
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Julie knew Roman was going to pull something from his leather jacket, and he had pulled out an equation that was nothing like they had solved. He must have been mad because she was late.
When five minutes passed, Julie was only half done solving it, and Roman commented, "Too slow."
"But half of it is right, right?" asked Julie, her eyes lighting up, and Roman saw the excitement in it.
"They are. Don't look too happy about it. There's no point in solving only half and not finishing it. You get no points for it," said Roman before he started tutoring her, and Julie internally smiled.
After teaching her, Roman had given Julie to solve the problems that were harder than what the textbooks had. In the meantime, he had picked up a book for himself to read.
"Did you finish solving or are you looking for answers on my face?" questioned Roman without looking up from his book.
"I wanted to ask you something about the thing that happened the day before yesterday," said Julie.
"What about it?" she heard Roman's nonchalant words from him. His eyes looked up at her.
"Did you, maybe tell Eleanor something when you went to meet her? Something about me?" she asked him. He relaxed the wrist that was holding the book, and he leaned forward.
"Why would I talk about you with her?" he questioned her, tilting his head to the side.
It was because Eleanor had not come with her baseball bat along with her friends to hunt her down. It had Julie wonder if he had anything to do with it. His eyes looked back at her with an unfazed expression.
"It was because I was the one to deliver her letter to you," said Julie.
"Not enough that I would bring up your name," replied Roman unconcerned.
So she had guessed wrong, and Eleanor had decided to keep up her end of the deal? But Roman was right, why would he bring her up in the conversation when he was tearing Eleanor's letter, thought Julie in her mind.
"Now that you have brought the matter up, how many other dorms' have you broken into?" questioned Roman, biting into his gum.
"It was just yours. Why would I go breaking into other dorms?" asked Julie, looking down at her book when she remembered the push and the brush of his finger on her wrist.
"I don't know, you tell me. Instead of knocking on the door, you decided to break into someone's room. The number of whispers that have gone around," Roman clicked his tongue while shaking his head with disappointment.
Julie's face turned red, and she whispered, "You are the one who has been telling everyone about it!"
"I? Why would I ever spread anything like that. I have other better things to do than mention about you to people. Maybe you should ask your dear friend Eleanor, after all, you did break into my room upon her word. And which idiot even agrees to something like that?" his eyes subtly narrowing at her.
"You are calling me an idiot because I called you one before," muttered Julie and Roman stared at her. "I know it wasn't a good idea…"
"What if it was some other guy, who decided to tie you in the room and killed you? No one would ever know," deadpanned Roman.
"Isn't that a little stretch?" asked Julie, her eyebrows furrowing, but Roman's expression didn't change.
"You never know who is a murderer, Winters," he said in a serious tone that somewhere made her worry now. "This is why you should talk to selected people and not the second. It will reduce your IQ."
Julie pursed her lips at the shade Roman threw at Dennis, and she said, "That's like you telling… your IQ will reduce with me," because she was nowhere in the top thirty or forty of her year, and Roman looked as if he had the highest.
"It is good that you are aware of it," responded Roman. "Now get back to working on the problems."
Julie held her stare for a few more seconds before tearing away her eyes to look back at her books.
A minute later, Roman raised his gaze from his book, and his eyes fell on the girl, who sat in front of him. Like the good girl she was, she diligently studied in front of him. He noticed she had twisted the sides of her hair and tied it in a medium ponytail. He noted that her glasses hid her dainty face.
Though Julie might have considered Roman's words to be dark humour, it wasn't far away from the truth. A human entering a possible vampire's dorm at night, would be nothing less than a midnight snack.
When Julie's study session came to an end, Roman stood up along with her. Julie noticed he had decided not to stay back like last time and started to walk away without waiting for her. He walked to the nearby racks and placed the book back in its place.
Julie's footsteps were much slower, and she watched Roman standing in front of the rack. He was tall enough to reach the top books of the racks without the need for a ladder. Walking past the rack, she left the library.
Once she was in the room, Julie stared at the letter that she had received from the letter thief. Staring at the words written there. She hadn't answered two of his earlier questions, but she decided to answer the latest one.
What he had asked was something that she had never discussed with anyone before.
Gripping the pen in her hand and a fresh page in front of her, Julie took a deep breath before she started to write—
'Alright. What happened a year ago…'
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