Tailor Made

Chapter Four

For the next week Aria felt like she was surrounded by snakes. She wasn’t a fan of confrontation, and unless her ire was sparked, she tended to find she couldn’t keep up too well with arguments. That left with the options of slapping herself in the face every 20 minutes to psych herself up for an argument, or just keep quiet and deal with their issues without complaint. One of these options would give her unusual hand markings on her cheek, so she chose the latter.

Her only solace was Chris, but he was too busy working on a project with Mathias. Instead, Aria found the final guy in the group to be a lot of fun. He was Jarod Zhang, and there was something about his prominent cheekbones and spiked black hair that looked familiar.

“Aria, it’s too quiet without you here,” he greeted her when she entered the club on their first Friday. It had turned out that Jarod was even worse at sewing than her. Apparently he had joined the ladies on the first day simply because he liked the company. Since he explained this to the group, he had joined Aria for beginner classes with Elise.

“That’s because we’re the only two who talk here,” Aria murmured to him. “I feel like we could cut the tension in this room with a knife.”

“Why and how would we cut emotional tension? I don’t think that’s possible,” Jarod said, looking confused.

“Never mind.”

Jarod wasn’t the kind of friend Aria planned to make, but he chatted a lot as he worked, which helped break up what felt like awkward silence. “It’s tough being in boarding school now; so far from everything I know and love. So chickity-check it, I made a plush version of my cat Beans,” he grinned, holding up a brown and black cat with loose stitching. “If I bring this home during the break, do you think Beans will get jealous?” he pondered. Aria privately doubted Beans would recognise it was a cat.

Jarod spent a lot of time fiddling with his phone, and Aria had discovered the only way to keep him properly on task was to talk with him. “So where are you from Jarod?” she asked.

“I’ve actually always lived in Kingsbury, but according to mother, ‘The nearby public schools have severely decreased in quality in the last few years’,” he said, putting on a terrible posh accent, “So now I’m here. Tea?”

Somehow Jarod had managed to get away with taking a full tea set into the clubroom, despite Mathias’s initial complaints that if he liked tea so much he should have joined the Tea Appreciation society. Jarod had scratched his head awkwardly. “Then I’d have to actually know something about tea. This is way easier.”

“Yeah, here you just have to know something about sewing. Way easier,” Mathias muttered.

Aria wasn’t ready to give up on the group. Perhaps it was the thought of being stuck with only Jarod for company, but she redoubled her efforts of positivity. With a bit of effort on her part, Elise, Mat, and Nora would have to like her! She hoped. She approached Nora who was sitting as far from everyone as possible like usual.

“Nora, good to see you as usual,” Aria said with what she hoped was a warm and not at all uncertain smile. “How’s everything going? I feel like I haven’t seen you sew anything since you joined the club, you just keep drawing. Having trouble coming up with a design?”

Nora closed her eyes for a moment as if summoning great patience from the beyond. When she opened her eyes she spoke in a low voice, too quiet for anyone but Aria to hear. “We’ve spoken about this. I have nothing to say to you. The fact that I’m sitting this far away has managed to successfully convey to everyone besides you that I have no interest in your lives. Do not come to me hoping to be friends. It’s not going to happen.”

Aria balked at her stare, but pushed forwards blindly. “Maybe we could work on it together. If you have different perspectives you might see something new you hadn’t thought of. Isn’t that the point of being in the club, so we can be in this together?”

A near imperceptible frown appeared on Nora’s face. “This project is quite important to me. And if someone with five years of experience in sewing is having trouble with a design, what do you think you, someone with less than a week’s experience, could actually offer me?”

Aria looked aside, hoping that someone was seeing this interaction. Mathias and Elise were not in the room, Chris was squirreled away in a corner pouring through the books on fashion, and Jarod had abandoned his beloved plush cat to resume tapping on his phone. Nora was also careful to keep her face near impassive, so anyone staring would think it was just two roommates talking normally.

“I know why you’re talking to me,” Nora continued, “This club isn’t shaping up how you wanted. Jarod is nice, but let’s be honest, he lacks for stimulating conversation. Elise and Mathias don’t like you, and judging by the stupid look on your face, you don’t even know why. And the person you joined the club for is too busy with his own work to pay attention to every girl pining over him, you least of all. You’re hoping we can be friends so you can alleviate some of your loneliness. Sorry princess, I’m too busy to deal with your teen angst.”

As Nora lashed at Aria with her words, Aria felt herself distancing from her body. She expected these words to spark her anger, in which case she would come back with some witty retort, but she felt none of that fire. Instead, she felt despair. What was she doing here talking to Nora? Why were Nora’s words ringing through her mind so loud? Aria shook her head while blinking back tears, and left the studio.

Why did that hurt? Because Nora’s words were true. Aria was lonely. Like Jarod said, being in a boarding school was an extreme change from their old life, and there was little that felt safe and normal to hang onto. Nearly everyone around her seemed to hate her, and yet she didn’t recall doing anything that would cause this reaction. But maybe she was just so oblivious to the needs of others that she missed something extremely rude she did? It was the only explanation she could think of.

She huddled behind a bush, hating the thought of anyone seeing her face now. A small, childish voice in her head cried out that she wanted to go home. She angrily wiped away the tears, she was too old for this sort of reaction! But heedless to her thoughts, her nose began to run as tears fell down her face.

Right then, just as she was thinking she couldn’t take anymore, a familiar voice drifted past her.

“So, recruits are pretty average this year.” Elise’s voice drifted down over Aria. Elise was sitting with someone on the bench on the other side of the bush. “Jarod is completely incompetent, but there’s something about that dopey smile of his that makes it really hard to be frustrated with him.”

“What about Nora?” asked Mathias’s voice. “Pretty quiet. I think I’ve exchanged six words with her since she joined. But man, that portfolio of hers is something else. That’s dedication. Still, someone who actually engages with us rather than using just the space would be nice.”

“What about Aria? Your thoughts?”

Aria learned a little closer.

“From the moment I first met her I knew she wasn’t my kind of person. I’ll tolerate her for the club, but I wish we had some other new members,” Mathias said.

“Ugh, I know, right? I mean she’s competent enough, but something about her just makes me so annoyed,” Elise replied.

The words stabbed into Aria’s heart and she trembled in effort to keep her sobbing silent.

“You’re just annoyed because of why she joined.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s just say over the years a pattern has emerged.”

“Humph.”

There were sounds like the two of them stood up, and Aria pulled her feet in quickly to make sure she would not be seen. She half wondered how they would react if they realised she heard all that. Nonchalance? Double down in explaining why she was awful? Or would they flounder and try to cover their mistake with awkward excuses? Aria didn’t know which was worst, and she wasn’t about to find out.

Aria despised crying. Every time she did her face scrunched up like a toddler mid-tantrum, her face grew red and her lips and eyes became puffy. Worst of all, her head would always start to ache, which would only fuel her anger at being upset. A familiar craving rose in her throat, but she pushed it down. No, she would remain strong. Just strong enough to find Alton, and then she would let herself have a good cry in his company. He would make it better.

“Dude, there’s a girl in your bed!” an unfamiliar male voice whooped.

Some pressure weighed down the bed as someone sat on it, and Aria felt the warmth of a hand on her arm. She knew without looking that it was Alton.

“Aria?” he asked quietly so his roommate wouldn’t hear. “Nod if you need to talk privately.”

Aria nodded lightly, and the weight removed itself.

“David, mind if you give me a little time alone?” Alton’s voice sounded coy, but Aria could hear the natural stage voice he was adopting.

“Of course,” the other voice replied. “Damn, girls delivering themselves to your bed. Damn…” He sounded thoroughly impressed as his footsteps took him out the door.

Alton returned to the bed and placed a hand on her head, brushing the hair from her face. “How did you get in here?” he asked.

“The usual way.”

“Good to see our misspent youth is good for something. Did you want to talk or just lie there sadly?”

“Sadly.”

“At least let me give you a hug. Come on, up you get…”

Alton pulled Aria up, and he held her close as the last few sobs were escaping her. He gave an extremely comforting hug, she had to hand it to him. Somewhere between the rocking and the barely audible reassurances, Aria calmed enough to feel like she could talk without sobbing.

“Are we talking about a generally rough time, or specifics where someone’s been a d**k? Do I get to hit someone?”

Aria laughed weakly. “Don’t people get up in arms if you hit a girl?”

“Like I care. I’ll punch anyone who messes with you. I’d punch a baby if I need to. Then run for my life, because I’m sure the wrath of a mother is like anything else on this earth,” Alton grinned.

Aria wondered how best to summarise the situation for Alton. She was used to him being an ever-present aspect of her life, so the fact that he needed to be filled in this time was completely foreign to her. “I just feel so lost, like I have nothing familiar to hold onto.”

“You’re holding onto me pretty hard, so you’ve probably always got me,” he offered.

“Not always. Not when I need you. But look, I don’t want a quick fix for when they hurt me, I want to sort things properly so we can be friends,” she said.

“I’m lost, who are we talking about?”

“My club, the people I’m forced to spend five days a week with? For some reason half of them hate me!”

“Yeah but your club is tiny. ‘Half’ is like three people,” Alton pointed out. “Mind you though, I’ve got the same problem in my club. Not the lack of people, but the half who hate me. On the first day some guy challenged me to a dance off. Of course I beat him with my sweet, sweet moves, so now he and his clique hate me. I think he thinks I’m his rival or something. It’s-” he broke off to laugh, “It’s pretty cute. They have so much passion in this club, I love it.”

“At least these guys are arguing to your face. Mine just low-key hate me so they won’t talk to me,” Aria complained.

“Then corner them and make them listen to you. If they hate you but you don’t know why, you can’t change it. Be earnest with them that you want to make things right. No one can resist your earnest face,” Alton said in what he probably thought was a reasonable tone.

“What if it turns out that they’re just angry people?” Aria mumbled.

Alton paused for a moment to think, and burst out laughing. “Just be nice to them until they break down. I remember in our final year at our last school seeing the worst of the school’s angst ridden teens turn into even angrier people in effort to combat your wholesomeness. They teamed up to create a pool of pure hatred, but even that wasn’t enough when you slowly started picking them off. When you’ve decided to be positive, you are a force to be reckoned with.”

“So that’s your advice? Ask them what their problem with me is, and then be nice until they are nice to me?” she asked.

“Yep. Be aggressively nice.”

“I love it,” she said. She stood up with new fire in her eyes and said “I’m doing it! I’m gonna find Elise and ask what her beef with me is.”

“Yeah, get it,” Alton agreed lazily. “Although maybe don’t phrase it like that.” But Aria had already left.

Enough time had passed that clubs were out, and there was brief study time until dinner. Elise would either be in her room or in one of the libraries. Finding people in this school really was ridiculous, they needed some sort of locating device, Aria pondered.

On Aria’s first day in the club she had signed a form to officially become part of the team. She had watched as Mathias took the form and compiled it with the rest of the names, each with their room number for contact emergencies. Aria had briefly thought of memorising Chris’s room number so she could just ‘happen’ to be standing outside when he headed to class, but felt that might come off as a little stalker-ish. While imagining this scenario, Aria had instead been staring at Elise’s number, and had accidentally memorised that one instead. Whatever, it was useful now.

Full of fire, Aria marched down to Maclear hall. She hoped that Elise would be in, otherwise that would be quite the buzzkill. She knocked on a door on the first floor, took a deep breath to steel herself to onslaught, and a random girl opened the door.

Aria deflated immediately. “Sorry, wrong room,” she said.

The girl who answered the door asked “Wait, who were you looking for?”

“Elise?”

“Oh yeah, she’s my roommate. Come on in.” Aria sheepishly entered, and the girl said “You know there are two people to a dorm, right? You’re not guaranteed to have the right person answer. Helps to ask…”

Kind of passive-aggressive, Aria thought, but she was in too deep to worry about Elise’s roommate now.

Elise was sitting at her desk typing on her laptop, and wheeled around at the sound of Aria. “Hey,” she greeted unenthusiastically, “Why’d you leave the club early? And now that I think of it, how do you know where I live?”

“It’s time to have this out, Elise!” Aria cried, ignoring the questions, “What is your beef with me?!”

Elise looked like a deer in headlights.

“Uh, I’m just going to go to the library,” Elise’s roommate said awkwardly and excused herself.

“I’m not quite sure I…” Elise trailed off. She looked a bit lost, so Aria elaborated further.

“Ever since I’ve joined this club you’ve been standoffish and dismissive, and I don’t know what I’ve done wrong! I mean, you’ve been lovely teaching me all this stuff about sewing,” Aria added hastily, “But you’ve been acting like I’m not even worth your time. I just want to know what I did so we can try and fix this! We’re all in this together, the club is our family away from home… you know? We have to stick together,” she trailed off, suddenly sure that Elise would laugh at what she was trying to say.

Instead, Elise put her hand to her head self-consciously. “You’re right, I have been kind of rude haven’t I?”

Aria was startled by the admission, and remained silent. Was it really going to be this easy?

“I’m really sorry, Aria. I just naturally get a bit weird when girls join the club because of Chris,” Elise explained.

Aria raised her eyebrows, “Is there something between you two?”

“What? No,” Elise laughed. “It’s a bit more complicated than that. Ever since Chris, Mat, and I joined the club, Chris has been sent to run the O-day booths because he does such a good job of drawing new members in. But the issue is every time we get a huge amount of girls joining just because they want a chance to work with him. It’s so stupid. And because I’m the best at working with the newbies, I teach them. Like with the girls on the first day you were at the club. That happens every single time. And each year when the girls realise they’re stuck with me they become these dismissive, flippant students who make me waste my time, and I hate that so much. When I said I was working with you, you looked over at him and sounded disappointed to be working with me, so I guess I just got it in my head that you only joined our club because you were into him.”

“Oh, I see how that would be frustrating,” Aria said awkwardly, trying to not look shifty.

“So that was my silly assumption, and I’m sorry. You’ve actually been a really fun student, and picking up things at a good pace,” Elise smiled. “And you’re right, we should stick together. Next time the club meets up, let’s make a new start, ok?”

“Wow, that was so much easier than I thought,” Aria breathed a sigh of relief. “Wait, you’re not just saying that so you can later betray my expectations and scorn me, are you?”

Elise looked confused, “Why would I do that?”

“Never mind, I guess I’ve just been hanging out with some strange people. I’m not honestly sure what to expect from people anymore. But great, now that we’re cool I just need to talk to Mathias and I’m set!”

“Mat, huh? Good luck with that,” Elise said.

“Why?”

“I love him, but he’s a bit of a psycho.”

“Mathias? Really?” Aria tried to think back to everything she’d seen of Mathias so far, and he had never been anything but incredibly calm. Where was this psycho business?

“Yeah, once Chris pulled this lame prank on him and his idea of revenge was building a bunch of custom-made rubber band guns that shot with the same force as paintballs. They had a shootout in the clubroom for about an hour. Once we could enter safely we found they’d turned the studio into a giant fort. We’re still finding rubber bands in there. That was pretty lame,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, lame,” said Aria, thinking how much fun that would be.

“But hey, don’t stress. If he doesn’t warm to you, you’ve got me and Chris. Jarod seems pretty nice too. And hey, Nora too. She seems good, quiet though. She’s your roommate, right? Must be nice to have someone that chill.”

“Yeah…” Aria grimaced. Alton’s advice to just ‘talk it out’ didn’t apply to Nora too, did it? Nora was clearly not interested. Aria turned to leave, but held back for a moment longer. “How come you and Chris aren’t… interested like that?” she asked, trying not to make it sound awkward.

Elise raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you ask the same thing about me and Mat?”

“Well yeah, but he’s…”

Elise smirked, “Oh Aria, you are still a bit young aren’t you? Look, Chris is great, but being attractive doesn’t automatically make someone a good candidate for dating. If I were you I’d try finding someone who made me laugh a lot, and someone I feel comfortable around. In the dark of the night when you’re feeling lost and alone, do you want a pair of abs to comfort you, or someone who feels like home?” And with that, Elise ushered her out the door.

Aria spent the walk home feeling suddenly unsure of her feelings for Chris.

Aria woke the next morning unsure what to do with herself now that it was the weekend. Back at home weekends meant hanging out with Alton and his crew as they wandered the streets and messed around with whatever came to mind. But those days were long behind them now. Aria was lonely, but she wanted just one day without drama, so instead of hunting down the people she knew, after a quick breakfast she headed to the stables.

True, she hadn’t had her first lesson there yet, but the welcome pack she received from the stables said students were allowed to volunteer there on weekends, to feed and take care of the horses, and maybe even take them out for exercise. And after her first week, Aria would give anything to not have to talk to more people.

It was late morning by the time she arrived because she’d allowed herself a sleep in and a quick warm-up jog around campus. There were a few students around, and they were all quietly feeding the horses or giving them a good cleaning.

Aria wasn’t quite sure how to begin, but she was soon found by Diane.

“Ah, new girl,” Diane said, “What was your name? I distinctly recall you telling me not to forget it.”

“Aria,” she replied.

“Of course. I like you Aria, not many new students come in here on their first week. Taking care of the horses isn’t as glamorous as riding them, so I appreciate you coming by.” Diane always spoke in a slightly higher volume, and Aria couldn’t imagine how she would have developed that trait when working around horses. None of them were spooked though, so it seemed fine. “Now I’m going to squash that good spirit of yours and set you to mucking out.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re going to clean the stalls of their manure. There are twenty-two stalls, so grab yourself a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow, and get on it,” Diane said, pointing to the required tools before leading a speckled grey horse out into the sun.

Aria wrinkled her nose, but resolutely got to work. There were no horses in the stalls at the time, so it was quite easy for her to go between them and scoop up all she could. It was hard work. Unsurprisingly, large animals meant larger mess, so it wasn’t long before the barrow was full and her arms were sore. One of the students pointed her to the other end of the stables where the outdoor arena was, and off to the left there was an area to dump things.

It was the first time Aria went out that side of the stable, and she was startled both by how huge the outdoor arena was (it was the size of the stables and the indoor arena combined), and how extensive the paddocks behind the stables were. She was immediately taken by the rolling green hills, and watched enchanted as a small herd of the horses began galloping across. The paddock surrounded all other sides of the outdoor arena, but to the left and right they were fenced to be slightly smaller, probably because not all the horses would interact well together.

Much closer to her, in the outdoor arena, Diane was holding a long lead that looked about ten metres long, so that a horse could walk around her in a circle while Diane slowly turned in the centre. Diane called out “Trot on!” and the dappled grey horse responded immediately, shifting into a fast yet smooth one-two beat. He was a magnificent creature, so tall that his shoulders nearly exceeded her own height. He perked his ears up at Aria as he wheeled by her, and showed off the pure white blaze that ran down the length of his face. Diane nodded briefly to her, and returned her attention the horse. Aria decided she should also return to her duties, but glanced wistfully over her shoulder once more before heading back inside.

Cleaning the rest of the stalls took until about lunch time. While it was hard work, it was strangely blissful not having to think for once. She was finally able to lose track and let her mind drift in and out of her memories of the past week.

Diane passed her as she was finishing up the last, and nodded. “That’s good work, and no complaints were made either. Considering there are so many stalls, we normally share the load around, but I figured it could be a fun introduction.”

Aria was dismayed, massaging her sore muscles.

Diane cracked a small smile. “I’m teasing you,” she said. “Think of it as initiation, everyone here gets it when they first join. So many people join just wanting to ride, but I like to show them the work that goes into the privilege of owning horses. But you did great. What do you say I show you how to do what I was doing earlier with Cosmic.”

Aria assumed she meant when Diane was leading the horse. “Sure, but first-” she agreed, but was cut off by her stomach growling loudly. “I should get lunch,” she finished.

Diane waved her statement away, “Just eat here. The kitchen has bread, cheese, meat; all the things you need for a sandwich. It’s not as classy as the dining halls, but it’ll do. Meet me at the office once you’re ready.”

After demolishing a few sandwiches ravenously, Diane led Aria through the steps of horse care, from choosing the right brushes to use based on the amount of mud they’d rolled in, to simply catching them and putting a halter on them in the first place.

Aria even had a chance to exercise the horses by leading them in a circle like Diane did before, a technique which she called ‘lunging’. Much like with horse riding, she was told, the key to lunging a horse was confident and clear commands. And for the horses who were a bit slow to listen, Diane held a whip with a long tail. At first Aria was worried how she would use it, but Diane merely cracked it behind the horse as a little reminder, never laying it on the horse itself.

Aria found she particularly liked the short, black mare called Jinx who trotted around Aria holding her head high and proud. Working at the stables all day was exactly what Aria needed to perk back up.

On her walk home from the stables in the late afternoon, she saw the retreating back of Mathias as he walked down the path while simultaneously reading a book. “One down, two to go,” she murmured to herself as she chased him down.

She had to admit Mathias had an art to reading and walking at the same time, and though he never raised his head, he was able to weave around small crowds, even when people stopped suddenly to chat. He was dawdling though, so he was easy to catch up to. And she noted with interest, that despite being part of the Couturier’s club he wore quite plain clothing. He wore a well-cut woollen jacket over a grey button-up shirt and ordinary blue jeans. Of course, Aria had never felt daring enough to look over his shoulder at his designs, so she wasn’t sure what he could make anyway.

“Mathias!” she said once she was close enough. “Could we talk?”

Mathias raised his eyes from his book. “Heading for a shower?” he asked, looking her up and down.

“Oh, I was at the stables all day. I learned so much today, it was fantastic,” she said cheerily.

“Uh huh,” he replied.

“So can we talk?” she asked again.

“Sure, but I’m not stopping,” Mathias agreed.

“No worries, I can walk and talk,” she set off after him. “So we’ve spoken very little over this past week because, well, every time we talk I get this weird feeling that you dislike me. But I wanted to clear the air, I was hoping you could tell me what’s wrong so I could try and fix it,” Aria said earnestly.

Unlike Alton’s statement that no one could resist Aria’s earnest face, Mathias looked unmoved. He simply shrugged and said “I don’t dislike you. I nothing you. We may be in the same club, but I don’t feel like we socially connect, so it seems like wasted effort.”

“Oh,” Aria said with surprise. “Well, feeling neutral is better than disliking. But when did you decide we weren’t really compatible in the friend sense? You already acted like this when we met at O-day.”

Mathias shook his head. “We didn’t first meet at O-day.”

“We didn’t?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t remember? We met at the party on the first night.”

“That was you?!” Aria exclaimed.

“Yeah, and the other guy you spoke to was Jarod. How do you not remember this? You called me a mop head. That didn’t actually bother me much, it was just the random babblings of a drunk chick, it happens. Look, there’s nothing wrong with you, I just knew then that you’re not the type of person I would choose to spend my time with.”

Aria cringed, “I did do that didn’t I? I am so sorry, I mixed up the drinks tables and accidentally had some alcohol.”

Mathias shrugged again. “It happens, don’t worry about it.”

“I am going to worry about it though. How I acted in the last week has made you not find me to be a good person. I want to change this,” Aria insisted. “Maybe it doesn’t matter as much to you, but I want our club to be a comfortable space where we care about each other! Even just a little. So I’ve decided what I’m going to do to befriend you.”

Aria wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw him smile just a little. “I didn’t realise it required a grand strategy,” he said.

“There’s nothing grand about it. I’m just going to be nice to you each day.”

“That’s… a pretty standard strategy, yes,” he said dubiously.

“Yes, but the trick is that I’ve worked out that you’re a decent guy. If I keep acting nice to you while you only ever act mean to me, you’ll eventually be overcome by guilt, and not be able to resist being nice in return.”

“Interesting…” he agreed, “But the problem with telling me your plans ahead of time is I’m now able to counter.”

“Oh, this isn’t ahead of time. This right here is step one. I’m being honest with you. The psychological warfare has already begun,” Aria grinned triumphantly.

Mathias chuckled, and drew to a halt. “So this is my place.” Aria had been so involved in the conversation that she followed him into Rhodes Hall, a floor up from her brother’s room. “Are you going to keep following me all night?” but he gave a small smile, so Aria knew her tactic was working.

“No, I’m good. I think we’ve made great progress today, Mr…”

“Dampier.”

“Really? Mathias Dampier? Your parents didn’t like normal names, did they?”

“And yours did?” But he laughed. “What are your plans for the rest of the night?”

“Nothing exciting, probably going to go home and work on my assignments. I know, raising the roof. Can’t stop this party train,” Aria said with a roll of her eyes.

“Hmm,” Mathias replied. “You know, I’m feeling like I’m in a betting mood. What would you say to a wager?”

“A wager?” she asked, “What are the stakes?”

“Simple. You seem oddly determined to follow through on this plan of ‘be nice to me till I cave and reciprocate’, but that seems a slow way to do things. We play a game, and if you win I’ll re-evaluate my opinion of you and work hard starting next week to be nicer. If you lose, I get to guilt-free rebuff your attempts.”

Aria laughed, “Oh yeah? And the game we’ll be competing over?”

“Come in now and I’ll start up Megalomaniac Monster Mission 3.”

“Oh wow, you play Triple M? My brother loves that. But uh, I thought we weren’t allowed to have visitors of the opposite gender in our rooms?”

“Aria, do you seriously believe that a bunch of teenagers are seriously going to follow that rule? It’s fine.”

Aria hesitated a moment longer, but knew there was no way she could pass up a chance to weasel her way onto Mathias’s good side, especially as he seemed to finally be in a good mood. “Beating you in a game I’ve never played for the sake of our future friendship? Bring it,” she said, imitating Alton’s cocky smile. The effect must have worked, because Mathias grinned at her, and opened the door.

It was much like entering Aria’s room; one side was fairly neat while the other was in disarray. Mathias threw his jacket on his bed on the neat side before rolling up his sleeves and booting up a heavy laptop. The only part of his side that wasn’t neat was his desk, which was covered in scraps of fabric, leather, wood, and an assortment of hand tools that she couldn’t recognise. Sitting in the middle of all of it was a handmade catapult. At Aria’s gaze, Mathias shrugged and said “I like building things.” There was a little paraphernalia from shows, a few that Aria recognised, as well as a stack of game disks that would have made Alton jealous. In the centre of the room was a huge stack of couch cushions of all colours neatly arranged into the shape of a couch. But when Aria poked it experimentally, it turned out that the cushions were sewn together. Not merely an imitation couch, but an actual one!

Mathias watched her glee for a moment before saying “That was one of my first projects when I joined the club. I mean, who wants to game while sitting at desk chairs?”

“This is an incredible idea, I love it! But speaking of, how are we supposed to game? The school doesn’t allow consoles,” Aria asked.

“But they do allow laptops. And those who made the rules were clearly unaware how easy it is to get emulators,” he grinned.

“You delight in finding ways around rules, don’t you?”

“Aria, please. I’m simply keeping my mind flexible. Isn’t that what they want from us? Now sit down and game with me so I can kick you out without feeling guilty.”

Aria sat down feeling much the same confusion she felt when she first met Nora. She couldn’t honestly tell if he was joking or not. But regardless, she was pleased that for a brief time they were getting along. And the couch was incredibly comfy, not as horribly squishy as she expected; it was likely Mathias inserted some wooden boards inside to give it stability.

Soon Aria and Mathias were screeching at each other. Not because of their all-consuming hatred for one another, but because Triple M was extremely good at making them feel stressed. The mission was simple; find guns, take guns, and shoot monsters. Aria felt the ‘monsters’ looked a bit more like aliens, but she wasn’t sure there was much point in being that pedantic. The game was actually cooperative, but Mathias turned on scoring so they would be able to see who was doing the most work between them.

While Aria had seen Alton play the game enough to work out what the names of the weapons and monsters were, she had never actually picked up a controller. As such, she spent the first few minutes of the game wheeling about madly, exclaiming “I understand that one stick is for eyesight, and one is for movement, but my thumbs can’t keep up!” It became evident that her only option was to spray-and-pray, while Mathias’s deft hands managed more precise shooting, and far more easily took out the threats. The screams of panic turned to whoops of victory when they were given a vehicle, and Aria cackled madly as she ran over the fleeing monsters.

They were up to some sort of boss in their mission when the door banged opened behind them, and a voice said “Hey Mat, I got- oh hey Aria. Weird seeing you outside of the club,” said the unmistakable voice of Chris.

Aria jumped up without pausing the game. “What are you doing here?”

Chris closed the door behind him and looked more bemused than surprised at her presence. He looked much more like what Aria expected from a couturier, dressed in a matching pair of speckled grey vest and pants, and a casually rumpled white shirt. “I could ask you the same.” He indicated for her to sit back down, and crossed the room to get a better look at the game.

“We’re in the middle of an intense competition, the victor will soon be decided,” Mat explained without taking his eyes from the screen.

“Yeah, screw that noise,” Chris said, closing the software abruptly.

“No!” Aria cried.

“Eh, don’t worry,” Mat said, “You were losing pretty hard anyway. Chris saved you from the crushing defeat.”

“You’re probably right…” she agreed, looking sadly at the screen.

“But yes, Chris is my roommate, didn’t I mention?” Mat stretched back on the couch.

“No. Don’t you get sick of each other being in the same club?”

“Couldn’t we ask the same of you and Nora?” Chris asked. When Aria scooted over a little he sat down on the couch with a thump on her other side. He had already turned on a different game so he grabbed Mat’s controller.

“By all means, take it. It’s not like I was enjoying myself,” Mat muttered.

“She’s pretty quiet,” Aria explained carefully, not wanting to get into all the extra details. “It’s kind of like living alone.”

“Huh, maybe I should invite her over too,” Chris said.

“Really?” Aria asked apprehensively.

“Eh, probably not. I never get on well with quiet people. I can never tell if they’re listening to me or judging me,” Chris replied.

“Judging. Definitely judging,” Mat said as the new game booted up.

Aria asked if he wanted to play but Mat just waved her offer away. “I might grab some dinner. You two stay comfy.” At Chris’s long look he continued, “And bring some back up here too, I suppose.”

Chris grinned. “Thaaaaank you Mat.”

Mat grabbed his jacket off the bed and headed out, and Chris looked at Aria.

“You know you’ve got straw in your hair, right?” he said, and reached over to pull it out before Aria could reply. He didn’t have to reach far though. It was the awkward situation where because there had originally been three sitting on the couch, Aria was sitting in the middle. But with Mat gone she wasn’t sure if she should move over to where he had been sitting, or act like she wasn’t embarrassed to be sitting this close to Chris. Sitting so that they were practically touching, Aria was able to feel the heat from his body, and noted he smelled really nice.

Aria brushed her hair back behind her ear. “Yeah, I was in the stables all day today, so it's not too surprising.”

Chris was leaning back on the couch with one arm stretched out along the back edge. “Oh, you like horses? That’s pretty cool. I can't lie; I've always been a bit scared of them. I mean, when you think about it, they're huge animals. There’s something pretty intimidating about walking around with a creature that could easily trample you. So yeah, I'm impressed you're comfortable working with them.”

“Thanks,” Aria replied.

It grew silent between them and Aria panicked, worried that he would think he boring. She floundered for something, anything to talk about. “So how did you get into sewing?”

“You want to know about that?” Chris asked.

“Sure,” Aria fumbled for a reason, “Because… because whenever I ask you anything about sewing you go off on a huge monologue about techniques and cultural views on it all. It's amazing to see you so passionate. People are a million times cuter when they talk about something they're passionate about.”

Chris laughed. “Honestly, my reason kind of embarrassing.”

“Please?”

“I was a pretty awkward kid. Awkward looking, awkward acting,” Chris grinned, making Aria momentarily doubt his story. “I didn't have a lot of friends either. I used to have to wait outside my mum's work after school, and I'd just watch people. And I noticed that those who dressed well often got more attention. Bigger smiles, more compliments, more stares… you can imagine how that seemed to a kid. I wanted to dress better to impress people, but we weren't exactly rich so I started making what I could from scraps. In time, my skills improved and I got more attention. But it was bigger than that. Because I had something in my life that meant so much to me, I became a lot happier, and people responded to that. I made friends through my sewing, and eventually it became such a fundamental part of my life that I can't imagine not sewing things. I like making things for other people now, and seeing the joy it brings them.”

“Wow, that's so sweet,” Aria beamed. “I can just imagine little Chris making clothing for himself. How cute!”

“That's the second time you've called me cute. Careful, I may blush.” But his confident smile said otherwise.

“There’s nothing wrong with being cute, it just means I’m happy when I see you… and other cute things.” The conversation was starting to make Aria nervous, so she tried to spend her nervous energy on twiddling with her hair, running her fingers through the soft tresses.

“You have really nice hair,” Chris said as he pulled a lock away from her face. “It’s long too, that’s good. Most outfits can be brought together by knowing how to wear your hair, and yours will have a lot of versatility.”

Aria snorted, “You have such a one-track mind.”

“I know what I like, is that so wrong?” Chris asked archly.

They laughed, the game left forgotten with the menu music playing on repeat. Aria couldn’t hear it at all though, she was too busy watching the contours of his face as he lit up in amusement. She wanted to reach up and comb back his soft hair, or feel the warmth of his cheek.

“Get your pants on, I’m back,” Mat announced, banging the door open. “And I brought sustenance.”

Aria pushed herself back smidge, feeling as if she were caught in an act. “Food!” she cried enthusiastically, but internally she was swearing at his sudden arrival.

Aria and Mat dug into the fish, chips, and salad while Chris, who had already eaten, played a game about car-jacking and killing human-sized neon cats. They all laughed uproariously as Chris tried silly things like trying to kidnap the cats, attack them with only his fists when they used far more intimidating weapons, and eventually using the corpses as weapons against all the other enemies.

“An ambulance really has no ability to drift,” he complained.

It grew late, and Aria decided to excuse herself. Chris waved from the couch as Mat walked her to the door. “It kind of sucks that Chris turned off the game halfway through,” she said, “We’ll have to try again if I still want to win your friendship.”

Mat stared at her hard. “That was playful banter, Aria. I wasn’t going to wait for you to win to start being vaguely nice to you.” He c****d his head to the side, “Well, I was tempted… but you held yourself pretty well out there. Against our enemies, and me. Besides, that game still has many more levels to complete.”

“How many?”

“Mmm, ‘bout fifteen?”

“Oh, we’ll have to do this again then. Probably a lot if we want to finish it.”

“My thoughts exactly,” he agreed.

Aria headed back out of Rhodes Hall, enjoying the crisp air of early autumn. She had to admit, talking to Mat had gone much better than she expected, and that he was actually quite gentle, and clearly enjoyed the banter between them. He was quiet in a larger group such as in the club, but with only the three of them he was enthusiastic. Maybe he just needed a situation where he was comfortable to open up. Aria would need to make good on her promise to hang out with him, and then with her help maybe he could be warmer with the club as a whole. Aria grinned at the thought of being able to bring them together.

Back in Shrew hall, Aria entered her room. Nora was sitting at her desk as she was nearly every time Aria returned to the room. Within only a week, Nora had almost completely gone through her first sketchbook, and was evidentially not having much luck based on the scrunched up balls around her rubbish bin.

Aria watched Nora for a moment, but Nora hadn’t looked up at all. Two down, one to go, Aria thought to herself. She felt emboldened by her success with Mat, but in a calm, confident way, rather than fiery like when she planned to tell someone off.

“We’re going to become friends,” Aria announced. Nora looked up from her work slightly, not turning her head the full way, but Aria could tell she was listening. “I don’t know what happened, but I’ve decided I don’t care. I’ve decided I want to make this happen, so I’m going to make it happen. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”