Tailor Made

Chapter Eleven

“I’m not sure I like what you’ve done with the place,” Reid said mildly. “The colour’s lovely of course, but throwing paint around and calling it ‘redecoration’? That’s a little derivative, don’t you think?” She sauntered into the studio, past the club who were all gobsmacked and still in the door frame.

Elise was the first to find her voice. “We didn’t do this!”

“Oh, of course, I’ve been running all over campus looking for you all. You would be far too busy to speak with all those clubs and also do this,” Reid agreed, but there was an undeniable hint of malice standing behind her words.

“It’s all over our work!” Chris howled, breaking through the people-barrier to pick through their things.

The red paint had managed to get everywhere. Little pools were starting to dry on top of a stack of notes someone had left on the group table up the back. The bookshelf, thankfully, only had a fine dusting of paint, hopefully landing only on the covers.

Aria’s insides exploded with anger at Reid’s smug face. “You did this didn’t you?!” she cried.

“Why Aria, not two minutes ago I explained I was chasing you all down,” Reid insisted innocently. “Perhaps while the studio was empty the art students thought it would be a fun little prank. Pity this school believes in the privacy of their students, so without video evidence, we may never know what happened,” she continued, her voice cooling. “And I don’t appreciate these accusations. I’m sure Mr White would be shocked to find you being so insulting to your teachers.”

Aria growled, but Mat put a quiet hand on her arm.

Reid smiled at them all. “Better get this cleaned up before the paint sets. Try not to be too late to dinner.” And she flounced out.

“That sanctimonious shrew! That… heinous harlot!” Aria swore.

“Careful, you’re alliterating,” Elise said.

Jarod examined the paint that had managed to reach the ceiling. “Why d’you think the art students wanted to throw paint around in here?”

“You i***t!” Aria snapped. “Reid was lying to us! She did this!”

“Don’t call him an i***t!” Elise rounded on her. “We wouldn’t have been out of the room if you hadn’t sent Reid running around the school.”

Over by the sewing machine Mat bent down to lift something off the floor. The club grew hushed as he lifted a half-finished garment irreparably splattered in red. His suit was about half done with careful pad-stitching throughout the layers. Without the slightest change in his neutral expression, Mat tossed the garment in the bin. Chris made a noise like a wounded animal. “We should get to work cleaning this if we want any free time tonight,” Mat said, “Come on…”

Later that evening Aria wasn’t quite sure how they managed to clean up any of it. Between her palpable anger at Reid, her guilt for dragging them out in the first place, and the tension in the air between them all, she wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

Chris left silently with the still impassive Mat in tow. Jarod slung his arm around Elise to walk her back to her dorm: she was still fuming and looked as if she needed to vent. Aria was faring no better than Elise, and merely grunted an offer to Nora of walking home together.

Aria stomped along, thinking furiously about how most of the good food in their dining hall would be gone by now. Stupid Reid. “She must have known somehow that we were messing with her,” Aria muttered. “Bet she came in half way through the session once she realised and had a temper tantrum when she realised she can’t control us. But destroying our stuff? How low can she get?” She glanced over at Nora who was resolutely silent. “Oh yeah, you’re a bit of a fan of Reid these days. Only because you’re one of the two people she hasn’t got it in for. Bet you’re real happy that my plan went sideways.”

Nora growled low and quiet in the back of her throat.

“What’s that?” Aria baited her. “Something you want to say?”

“It was a terrible idea, what were you thinking?!” Nora cried. “I warned you when we first met her, Reid is serious about hating you. You played with fire, and now you’re all shocked to find out that you can get burned. You dragged everyone into your mess, and made us all a target for your stupid game!”

Nora and Aria were face-to-face like two cats hissing in the night.

“Which I wouldn’t have had to do if you were willing to talk to me! If you didn’t get angry at me for every damn thing!” Aria screeched.

They glared at each other, trying to find the words to express their fury.

“God DAMNIT,” Nora cried. “Why is it so hard to be your friend?!”

“You’re blaming this on me?!” Aria shouted.

“No!” Nora’s face screwed up. “I’m blaming this on me!”

Aria's enraged stance dropped immediately. “Say what now?” she asked, confused.

“You’re this… awkward ball of sunshine,” Nora floundered, “And you get on well with nearly everyone. What does that say about me if we can’t get along? It’s just… what is wrong with us?” Her piercing gaze finally fell, and her shoulders slumped over. “Why are we always at each other’s throats? You know, in the time of our ‘friendship’ we’ve had very few times when we’ve actually been good to each other. There’s always some argument which gets in the way.” Nora plonked herself down on the asphalt between the buildings, clearly not caring about the biting cold. “And three guesses who always starts the arguments.”

“I think we’re just very different people,” Aria desperately tried to explain. “Our ideas from right and wrong, even what’s funny and not, we’re often on opposite sides.”

“Too different?” Nora asked, her voice breaking.

“Um...” Aria sat down next to her and tried to ignore her own shivering. “I don’t know.”

Nora hanged her head. “When we met I had this feeling about you. I can’t describe it, it’s a feeling I have from time to time with certain people. I could barely speak a word to them but always think they’re amazing people. When I met you I thought: this girl is worth my time. She’s something special, maybe even special to me.”

“I had no idea,” Aria replied.

“I like to play it cool.”

“Maybe a little too cool. I hate to say it, but most people probably wouldn’t have been so persistent to be your friend when you made it clear you’re not interested,” Aria said.

“And then I would be all alone again. Yay,” Nora said, her eyes playing with the ground rather than speaking directly to Aria.

“Nora…”

“You were right, I am jealous.”

“Jealous of what?” Aria asked.

“I don’t make a lot of friends, so whenever you start getting close to someone else I feel… worried, upset, I don’t know,” she gestured awkwardly with her hands. “I’m scared that I might lose you to them. And that’s unfair of me. I shouldn’t feel jealous like this, but I do. But I don’t want you to feel like you can’t have other friends.”

“Awww,” Aria melted, “That’s actually really sweet, Nora.”

“No it isn’t!” Nora cried suddenly. “Jealousy is not a sweet emotion! It bites at me, it makes me feel petty and small. It poisons me, and makes me someone I don’t like anymore. Some part of my brain thinks I have some claim to you, like in some way you are… mine. But I want to feel more secure in our friendship, and not worry I’m going to be left behind. I just don’t know how to do that.” Nora scrubbed at her face with her hand. “I’m just scared of who I am around you.”

“Scared? But… why?”

“I once cared about someone like… well, they were nothing like you. But they evoked the same feeling,” Nora shifted uncomfortably. “Let’s just say I don’t have a strong opinion of love.”

“Don’t be scared of us being close,” Aria began.

“Thanks Private Obvious.”

Aria’s eyes searched the ground as if she would find the words on it. “Despite our differences, I think we… complement each other well. You make me braver. The way you are reminds me to stand by my convictions, no matter what it makes people think of me. You have real integrity. Even if you’re a complete b***h about it.”

Nora snorted. “You calm me down. A bit. Even if you’re a goody two-shoes about it.”

“Ungrateful wench,” Aria said seriously, before they both laughed.

“But,” Nora sobered, “This isn’t enough. We know we make each other better. But give us a few weeks and we’ll be back at each other’s throats again. Aria?”

“Yeah?”

“Is that feeling that we click not enough to make this friendship work?”

“Weeell, maybe we actually need to put effort into this relationship.”

Nora c****d one eyebrow. “You make it sound like we’re dating. Want me to take you out for a romantic meal?”

“Actually yes. I’m starving. But seriously, maybe when we fight we need to remember this thing my mum always said to me.”

“Was it ‘The arts are for hobbies, performance is for career’?”

“No. Wait, your mum said that? She doesn’t consider performance to be art?”

“Nope.”

“But it’s… performing arts.” Aria shook her head. “Anyway, my mum told me: ‘When you two fight remember that it’s not you verses him, it’s the both of you verses the problem.’ Uh, I think she expected me to fight with a guy.”

“I’m prettier than a guy. And if you’re going to be angry at someone, it may as well be a pretty someone.”

“That makes literally no sense. Wouldn’t I want to stay happy with someone pretty so I get to keep looking at– This really does not matter right now. Nora! Can we please get some food and go inside?!”

After dinner Aria didn’t feel like studying. Even though she and Nora reconciled somewhat, it had been a day filled with nervous tension, and Aria needed to work it off. She slipped into some more run-friendly pants, and headed out into the evening.

It was a Friday night, so music could already be heard emanating from the dorms. There was something wonderful about being surrounded by music you could feel, and being surrounded by the incredible aura of energy coming from everyone. But after days like these, Aria craved the dark and quiet.

Her rage at Reid was finally gone, but her fire had been replaced with a pit in her stomach. She was just a new member to the club, a club which had given her friends and purpose within a new school, and now she was the reason their space had been trashed. Maybe she should go to the teachers about it? But no, the teachers had already proven to trust Reid more. The club had no evidence, and who would believe them that a grown-ass woman had a temper tantrum because they played a simple prank?

The studio was mostly fine, but Aria couldn't help replay the image in her mind of Mat throwing his hard work into the bin. She remembered when he got his hands on that wool suiting, he was grinning ear to ear and babbling about the quality. There was not enough remaining to make another from the same material. Aria's gut twisted. She was the one who wiped that uncharacteristically happy look from his face. She was also the one who caused the arguments to crop up between her and the other members. Why couldn't she have just been an adult about the situation and accept that they were right, that she made a mistake. Why did she have to argue and sound like a child? When would she start growing up?

Aria ran faster, trying to leave the thoughts behind. She tried to focus on her sharp breaths and pounding legs, but the faces of disappointment and anger kept rising in her mind. Furious at herself, she slowed and let hot evening air wash around her. There was no helping it, guilt was consuming her thoughts, and there would be no escaping from herself.

When Aria neared her dorm she spied a figure waiting on the bench outside. She recognised the frame immediately, it was Nora. Nora often relaxed on that bench to escape Aria in the evenings to read, but this time she sat straight up and was looking out as if she was watching for someone. When their eyes met, even at the distance, Nora smiled warmly.

“You ok?” she asked as Aria approached. “You look like you could use a hug.”

“I, uh,” Aria hesitated, “I was running. I'm pretty gross right now.”

“You're always gross,” Nora replied, but she was already standing and drawing Aria in. “Ok, tell me what's up, you bundle of joy.”

Aria was cooling off quickly after her run, and shivered despite Nora's warm arms. “Maybe we should go inside first?”

They headed up to their room, and for once their roles were reversed. Nora smiled at some of the other students they knew, and it was Aria who was silent. Inside their room Aria fell back onto her bed without getting out of her running clothes first. Nora joined her.

“I just want to sulk,” Aria said, drawing her blanket up to her face.

“Or you could complain your woes to me?”

“Thanks Nora, you're really nice.”

But Nora grinned wickedly. “Not really, it's so I have ammunition against you when you start annoying me as a roommate.”

“'Start' means I haven't annoyed you yet, that's good news,” Aria said.

“It's no fun if you don't respond to my barbed comments with your own,” Nora pouted.

“I'm just worried everyone will hate me because of this,” Aria replied quietly. “I was starting to feel like we were at such a good place until Reid butted in.”

“Ahhh... yeah, I'm not sure about that,” Nora disagreed tentatively. “I almost thought we were merging with the theatre club, what with all the drama. The one time we've worked together cohesively was during the Carnival of Colour.”

Aria thought back. “Huh, I think you're actually right.”

“I can be right occasionally!” Nora insisted.

“I guess we tend to be a bit chaotic unless we're united by a single cause,” Aria mused. “Maybe that's what I need to do to get everything good between us.”

“Unleash hell on earth so our survival depends on us working as a team? I like it, but where will we get a zombie virus at this time of night?”

“I'm serious!”

“So am I. Asking for a friend, I swear.”

Aria ignored her. “A movie night, maybe? No, I feel like it needs to be something where we work together a bit more. We could form a team and take on the best athletes of the school with our moxie and complete lack of experience? No, we'd just argue again.”

Nora groaned in response, “Can't we just round them up and let you apologise? That usually works fine. There'll be hugs, tears- mostly yours- and then everything will be right as rain.”

“No! I mean, talking is good, but it feels so empty. Saying words is so easy, I want to put in real effort to show how I feel about this,” Aria argued. She jumped from her bed and sent Nora sprawling onto the floor. Aria sat down at her desk with a thump, pulling paper towards her and beginning to scribble ideas.

Nora stared at Aria's frenzied work from her place on the floor. “Riiiight,” she said. “I feel like the more we hang out the more you become like me, and the more I become like you. I'm a little jealous of your craziness right now.”

The rest of the night was fairly quiet aside from Nora occasionally replying 'mhm' to Aria's mumbling. For once, Nora was the first to turn in, though not before delivering Aria a mug of hot tea in attempts to calm her down a bit. But Aria was unusually determined. It hadn't been long since Aria entered Smartwood, it was really only a month by this point, but she already had a lot to thank the Couturier club for. She couldn't bear to be the cause of their strife now.

On Saturday morning, just after breakfast, the two of them made the rounds through the kitchen attached to Shrew Hall. With a careful nonchalance, they were in and out within two minutes. They headed into the Forrest building where Aria had seen the perfect room to enact her plan, and Aria shooed Nora out to go round up the others.

She got to work cooking the components for her fabulous feast of reforged friendship (ok, she was reaching too far on that particular alliteration), when she noticed a half-finished project of another student who was using the kitchen. Aria wasn't sure if it was for a club or for a cooking class, but someone had painstakingly created a half-sized bust of what looked like a chocolate elven archer. The detail was breath-taking, but she did have to hurriedly push the stand holding the bust away from the stove. That could have been a disaster.

Aside from cooking the rice, frying some meat, and chopping vegetables, the process was fairly quick. By the time there she heard the voices of her friends drifting in from the hall, she was mostly complete.

“Making a mess of a room again?” Elise asked flatly.

Aria blushed and turned to them all. “Sorry for calling you all here on your weekend. I just wanted to try make things up to everyone.”

They were all standing in a tight clump by the door, and at least Elise definitely had a look of wanting to get out of there. That's right, Aria had argued with her after leaving the studio. Aria cringed, she had completely forgotten to drop by Maclear Hall and apologise.

“We're not cleaning this up too, are we?” Jarod whined.

Chris jabbed him in the ribs. “Be polite, Aria's trying to do a good thing for us.”

“Yeah, we can just enjoy the food and skip out before cleaning duty arrives,” Mat commented dryly.

“Guys, chill it,” Nora requested, “Can't we just have a meal together and be happy?”

Aria shot Nora a grateful look, but Elise spoke up.

“Any food I eat angrily is not going to be savoured. I want to hash this out now,” she argued and strode into the kitchen.

Aria resisted the urge to groan in frustration, and squared off with Elise. “Fine, let's do this.”

The two of them stood in the centre of the kitchen, with rice cooking to one side, and the club looking both scared and excited on the other.

“Aria, you were inconsiderate in ways I would have expected from Nora, and stupid in ways I would have expected from Jarod. No offence,” she added as an aside to Jarod who had stuck a pair of chopsticks under his top lip and laughed 'I'm a walrus!' “Seriously, I thought you were one of the people in this club I could trust, and yet you dragged us all out on a day we could have been working, and provoked Reid. And we all had to pay for your idiocy.”

“The people of this club are always making mistakes and getting in each other's way, but you always let it slide. Yet the second I do something wrong it's time to crack down?” Aria glared daggers.

“Your defence is that 'because other people are stupid you should get to as well'?” Elise cried and began to pace back and forth, narrowly missing the chocolate bust which was perched precariously on top of a wheeled platform. Aria had moved it over, and it was now facing away from them all. “Whenever those idiots make a mistake, they're the only ones affected. You've hurt all of us in this!”

“Is anyone else feeling personally called out?” Jarod asked.

“And you think it's a good idea to call me out in front of everyone?” Aria snapped. “Great leadership skills.”

This discussion was not going how Aria had hoped, and yet despite knowing she was being an i***t, she couldn't stop herself from lashing back to Elise's every attack.

“If you started by actually apologising the other night, then I wouldn't be so frustrated!” Elise cried. “Your problem is you don't think you did anything wrong! You haven't even apologised to Mat for his-”

“That's enough!” Mat roared suddenly.

Everyone stopped. No one had heard him this loud before. Silence fell over the kitchen, and now they could all hear voices just outside the door, and the rattling of the doorknob.

“You did ask permission for us to be here, right?” Elise asked.

“I totally did,” Aria insisted.

The door opened and a voice called out. “Hey! We booked this kitchen, you shouldn't be here!”

“I totally did not,” Aria amended. “Grab everything, let's go!”

“It's fine, we can just explain there was a mistake,” Chris assured her.

“No, seriously, we need to get out of here,” Aria explained, wide-eyed. “I'll explain soon.”

The club picked up all the still-hot pans Aria was using, and dashed past the other group, barely pausing to see who they were. Aria heard them enter the kitchen, and a moment later a shrill scream pierced their ears.

“What on-” Mat began.

“Not now!” Aria insisted.

They broke out into the sunshine and set everything down on a bench. They all looked up at Aria who was flustered and red-faced. She let out a long breath, looking mortified.

“What's wrong?” Nora asked. “What did you do?”

Wordlessly, Aria pulled out her phone and showed them all a picture. It was of the beautiful chocolate bust, only now there was a comical expression drawn on its face in icing. With a winking eye, and a tongue sticking out, the bust had lost all of its quiet dignity.

“It'll wipe right off!” Aria insisted, blushing crimson as everyone snorted.

“I don't know what's come over you recently, but you're well on your way to becoming a deviant,” Chris laughed.

The laughter had relaxed Elise's face considerably, and the edge had vanished from her voice. “Why did you do any of that? I mean, Chris is right. Aside from going overboard on trying to apologise, everything else you've done hasn't been like you at all.”

Aria squirmed, feeling the weight of five pairs of eyes on her. “I don't know... I just wanted to be more... interesting. Like you guys.”

Nora immediately slapped her forehead. The others followed suit with similar looks of amusement and exasperation. Except for Jarod. He poked at the cooked rice and took a small bite.

“Aria, I want you to join me in the crazy dome as much as the next person,” Nora said, “But if you're changing yourself for our sake, that's pretty lame. It's not going to make you or us happy.”

“I think it's funny,” Chris said.

“Well your opinion sucks balls,” Nora retorted.

Aria decided to jump in before it could get worse. “Guys, let's not fight. I'm sorry, alright? This was kind of all my fault. If I hadn't done any of this, you guys, especially Mat...” and she fell silent, awkwardly looking up at them.

Mat silently pushed Elise forward. Elise blushed, “It's fine. I mean, it's not fine, but it's ok. You played a prank which caused this whole mess, but really it was pretty harmless. Reid's the one who blew it out of proportion. And you only acted that way because you wanted us to like you? Aria, you're smart, but you're definitely an i***t as well.”

“You're getting a lot of mileage out of that name today,” Mat muttered.

“I was just mad because I had to clean up a mess I didn't make,” Jarod announced. “I would have preferred to be lazy.”

“Seriously Jarod, why are you in this club anyway?”

“'Cause you guys are cool.”

Elise glanced down at the bench covered in food. “Maybe we should just eat for a bit. What is all this anyway?”

“Oh,” Aria replied, a smile breaking out on her face, “I wanted to make sushi for everyone. But it still needs to be rolled, so I was thinking maybe I could teach everyone? If you don't know already, of course.”

“I can't just eat it separately?” Jarod asked with rice sticking to the corners of his mouth. Elise snatched the pot away from him.

They located an outside table by one of the art rooms, and Aria passed out a rolling mat and seaweed to everyone. She stood at the head of the table, feeling somewhat like a celebrity chef. “Alright everyone, I'm not sure how many of you have eaten sushi so I'm going to start at the beginning. The kind we'll be making; maki rolls, tend to be fairly simple and small. As such, for each roll we will only be using rice, obviously, one kind of meat, and one kind of vegetable. I have a small selection,” Aria indicated the pan with some chicken and beef, and a small can of flaked tuna to the side. She pointed to the other side of the table where there was corn, cucumber, and asparagus. “Of course, you don't need to put in meat if you don't want to. Place your square of seaweed onto the rolling mat, and we'll see about getting some rice. You can use a spoon to ladle it out, but I find rice can be finicky, so it's much easier to use your hands. But sushi rice can be extremely sticky, so when you wash your hands, don't dry them off. The water on your hands will prevent the rice from gluing to you.”

They all got up, washing their hands in the trough normally used for washing paint from brushes, they assumed, and returned.

“Right!” Aria began, “Now you want to put a scoop of rice on the seaweed towards the edge closest to you. Leave a one centimetre gap from the edge bare, but make sure the rice spreads evenly to each vertical edge. The rice only needs to go halfway down the seaweed, and the layer should be less than a centimetre thick.”

They all complied, and immediately spread small grains of rice all over the table.

“I hate to say it, but you're going to have to wash your hands again now to get rid of the excess rice,” Aria explained.

“Wish we could have done this in the kitchen,” Elise grumbled.

Aria led them through creating a thin line of meat and vegetable horizontally down the rice. “The hardest part is rolling it,” she continued. “If it's too loose, all the rice will fall out. If it's too tight, you could split the seaweed. We're going to roll the mats around the sushi, slowly but firmly.”

“Yeah we will,” Jarod snorted. Elise whacked him across the head.

“Water is your best friend here, just like with the rice. Once you have it half rolled, you want to dab a line of water across the far edge, so when it meets the rest of the roll, the water will seal it.”

The instructions were followed by much unrepeatable swearing. The rice tended to fall off the seaweed at difficult points, and Jarod even managed to roll the mat into the sushi, rather than pulling it away like everyone else. In the end only about half of the rolls succeeded, but it was incredibly satisfying to devour something which caused them so much strife.

They all sat down on the grass to share their feast, and Elise sat next to Aria. “I wanted to explain myself a little bit, I reacted pretty badly to what happened with our studio. Mat, Chris, and I have been going there since we started at this school. It's where I've made friends, it's where I've become a better person. It really stung to see it treated like that. So while I am angry, I'm not angry at you.”

Aria munched seriously. “It was Reid who did it, no doubt about that.”

“Are you sure?” Chris asked, “That seems an extremely childish action. Reid's not like that.”

“You've been on her good side this whole time,” Elise disagreed. “She hasn't shown you how petty and immature she can be.” She looked down at the last sushi roll in her hand. “Man, I just want to smoosh this in her face. Mess up that red lipstick of hers. I mean, who only ever wears red? I just want to get her back for all the anguish she's caused us.”

“Because that worked so well last time,” Mat said without removing his eyes from his food.

“You know, I hate to say it, but I think Mat's right,” Nora agreed. “We shouldn't respond to this, we should just continue our work and not aggravate her.”

Everyone looked over.

“What?” Nora asked hesitantly.

“You're always the first person to argue with anyone,” Aria explained. “You once yelled at a teacher for five minutes for mispronouncing 'oriented'.”

“He said 'orien-TA-ted'! He added a whole 'nother syllable! How can I trust a teacher who doesn't know simple words?”

“Maybe Nora's growing up,” Chris said happily.

“Or maybe,” Nora growled, “she doesn't want to ruin our chances of getting to enter in the R-fad. Reid's already threatened that once, she knows it's important to us. She attacked the studio to shake us, to make us retaliate! I think she honestly gets enjoyment from lording power over a bunch of high school students, how low.”

Elise nodded at her words.

But Jarod just groaned. “But I live for pranks, what will my life become if I leave this alone?”

“I thought you liked her?” Mat asked.

Jarod laid a hand dramatically across his chest. “My heart has been scorned by her, the love has vanished from our relationship. I need to move on, but I can't let go unless I burn her forever. Besides, it's funnier pranking someone when they think you like them. That hurt look upon their face? Bliss.”

“That's pretty cold, man.”

“Nora's right,” Elise announced, putting on her authoritative voice. “We should let things fall, no matter how much we want to shove something sharp and uncomfortable into her smug face. Besides, the best revenge would be go onto this competition and win it without her advice. I mean,” she paused, “unless you like her advice. My point is, make what you want to make. We'll go to the R-fad and be proud of our own achievements.”

“You people are so wholesome, it's gross,” Nora commented.

Elise rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You're the one who suggested we play it cool.”

“And you turned it into a lesson about being our best selves. Gross.”

“We're in a school right now, this place is all about lessons!”

“Yeah, but for things like logarithms and stuff. We're not supposed to learn anything actually useful here!”

Mat snorted involuntarily as he gathered the mostly empty plates and pans together. He nudged Aria, “We should probably get these back to wherever you borrowed them from.”

“So long as we're quiet. I didn't actually ask to borrow them,” Aria replied.

“So you stole them?”

“No, no. Borrowing without permission still has the intent to return them. Definitely not stealing.”

“I'd love to watch you trying to defend yourself in court with that kind of logic. 'I'm not guilty, your honour, I gave him CPR right after I drowned him!'”

“Oooh,” Aria said eagerly, “Sort of like how women should be allowed to murder because they can just make more people. Albeit slowly.”

Mat stared hard at her. “I'm not sure I want to help you with these anymore.”

But, nevertheless, Mat helped her carry everything back while Nora and Elise continued to argue playfully. Aria felt awkward walking alongside Mat though. Now was the perfect time to apologise, but would he forgive her? He hadn't smiled much over the lunch, so Aria was worried he was taking this situation much harder than he was letting on. Maybe his heart also burned with the fires of vengeance, even if his face remained impassive.

“I hope you didn't mind the impromptu lesson on sushi,” Aria laughed awkwardly.

“Not at all, it was a chance to do something I'd not done before. But how did you learn? I thought you were studying French at the moment?” Mat asked.

“I, uh, really like anime.”

“You're such a weeaboo.”

“I... what?”

“Which way to your dining hall?” Mat asked, indicating for Aria to take the lead.

“Near the west end. Nora and I live in Shrew Hall.”

Mat snorted. “So appropriate.”

Aria rolled her eyes and they headed down the cobbled path together.

“I'm pleased that everyone managed to talk things out,” Mat said.

Aria grinned, feeling relieved. “I know! I think we made great strides today. I think everything will be ok now.”

“Hmm? How so?”

“Well...” Aria considered, “Now we know better how to act in the future. Maybe that will cause less arguments between us? I feel like we've been stepping on eggshells since Reid arrived. But if we stick together we'll be fine.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

Mat appeared to ponder this. “Aria, I'm pleased that you believe so wholeheartedly in this group. But people can't always live up to their promises, especially in matters such as these. I just don't want you to be disappointed when they don't live up to your expectations.”

“Wait, 'when'?” Aria asked, looking confused and a little hurt.

“Do you really believe they'll stick to not causing trouble for each other?” Mat replied almost gently.

The two of them arrived in front of Shrew Hall, but Aria stopped so to turn all her attention to Mat's accusations. “They said they would, so why wouldn't they?”

“It's easy to make these resolutions when people are calm,” Mat said. “Once they're in the situation where they're assaulted by their own pride or anger, it's much harder to maintain that resolve. I believe our group will endure this cycle of anger, lash out, and promises to be better many times before they actually hold to it.”

Aria felt a flash of anger and would have retorted immediately had the doors to Shrew Hall not slammed open by two girls giggling together. “I told him I was pansexual,” one of them said, “And he just replied 'uh, does that mean you're attracted to pans'? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!”

The other girl laughed, but her laugh was quickly replaced by a confused look. “Wait, it doesn't mean that?”

Aria and Mat, their arms laden down with dishes, stole into the hall before it slammed shut, cutting them off from the girls' conversation. The break in Mat's explanation was just long enough for Aria to compose herself again. “I normally agree with you Mat, but right now you sound like an arse,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Oh? How so?”

“You make it sound like you're looking down on everyone for being fallible.”

“Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was better than everyone.” Mat replied. “I'm just as susceptible to acting like an i***t. Perhaps even more so.”

Aria considered his words carefully. “I don't know about that. I want to be a d**k to you right now but.. I can't honestly think of any situation where you acted childishly. You're pretty on the ball.”

Mat shook his head. “I wish that were true. Back I told you off for ignoring me for Chris I was just being jealous. It feels silly, and I know it's silly, but I do envy him some times.”

Aria nudged the dining hall door open for them. “Why would you?”

Mat snorted at her tone. “He's a very likeable person. He's charismatic and comfortable around people in a way I'm not, and a small part of me wishes I could be like that. A very small part.”

“I think I prefer you the way you are.”

“Me too. Mostly. But I don't want my envy to tarnish my friendship with Chris, just as you don't want to pick fights with the people you care about. Unfortunately these thoughts and reactions will keep occurring, but it's up to us each time to choose whether to listen to and act upon these thoughts. And when I say I expect us to fail many times before we get it right, I say this as a natural part of progressing from who we are, and who we want to be.” Mat set his dishes upon a counter in the adjacent kitchen, and the sound punctuated his statement.

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Aria admitted. “But somehow it still makes me sad.”

“Sorry. But think of it this way, just as being positive and hopeful makes you happy, I find being realistic brings me comfort. When I or others succeed at things, it's a happy surprise. When I fail, it's ok. It just means it's time to try again.”

Aria didn't smile.

Mat took one of her hands gently and squeezed it. “It's just how I see the world, I'm not saying you should do the same. In fact, I like that you believe in people so seriously. We all need hope in our lives, and that's what you give us.”

Aria wiped a prickling of tears from her eyes. “Thanks.”

“We should probably wash these dishes while we're hear. Something, something, return things better than when you borrowed it, and all that,” Mat said, but he looked pained. “I hate washing dishes...”

“That's fine. I'll wash, you dry,” Aria smiled.

They worked in silence for a bit, but Aria couldn't stop thinking about how the discussion of Mat's ruined work hadn't been raised. Did he not want to talk about it? Was he trying to be mature and not feel upset about the situation? The questions tumbled around in her mind as she remembered the dead look in his eyes.

Over the muted clang of dishes moving in the sink, Aria screwed up the courage to speak. She kept her eyes cast down upon her work though. “I'm... really sorry about what happened to your work. I don't know what I could do to make it better, but I know apologies alone aren't enough. So please, if there's any way I can help you fix things, just tell me what it is.”

Mat gave the response that Aria didn't expect, but in hindsight really should have, given his track record. He shrugged. “Eh, it's fine.”

Aria almost slapped her soapy hand to her head. “Seriously? It's just 'fine'? How? Let me apologise, damn it!”

Mat waved her apologies away. “I was serious when I said it was ok. I’ll make a new one, it won’t be hard.”

“Yeah, but... you were so pleased by that fabric, and there's not enough left! And it was already half finished, doesn't it hurt to have so much of your time wasted?”

Mat replied simply. “Not really. I’m not as invested in the competition as the rest of you are. This is just an excuse to see if I’m any good. I probably won’t sew much once I finish school.”

Aria was aghast. “You won’t?!”

“Yeah, I didn't mention it? Yeah, I like sewing well enough, and I’m definitely skilled by now, but I really only joined the club because Chris wanted company. It’s only ever been a hobby for me, unlike what it is for Chris and Elise. They really care about what they're doing, I admire that,” Mat concluded.

“Um,” Aria said. “I knew we were going to stop working together once the year ends, but knowing you won't continue makes me a little sad.”

“Don't be. I enjoyed it a lot in the time I've been here.”

“And we still have the rest of the year to hang out,” Aria smiled.

Mat grinned. “Exactly.”

Their job was finally complete, and they returned the dishes to spaces that seemed close enough to their original homes. Mat and Aria left to go their separate ways. She walked him as far as the door of the hall, and Mat asked what she was intending to do now that she was free for the evening.

“I might actually be really boring and read a book for class. I could do with something low key,” she replied.

“I would have thought you would hang out with Liam while you have the free time,” Mat said.

Aria's eyes opened wide, and she laughed. “Right! Whoops. I completely forgot about him. Ah, I'll go see him later.” And she headed upstairs.

Mat stared after her for a moment long before heading home himself.