Gwendolyn Caspian had perfected the art of sneaking in and out of her room, so much in the past few months that she had grown quite confident in her abilities. She had learned every nook and cranny of the apartment complex, learned a bit about her fellow tenants if only to know which ones cared about her whereabouts and their habits, and she had Maddy’s schedule, as strange as it was sometimes, memorized to a T. It made her nightly patrols all the more easier to cope with and the less questions asked, the better her life could be.
So, imagine her surprise when she snuck into her room late one night after an exhausting patrol to find Maddy sitting on her bed, arms crossed and a look of pure anger in those dark eyes of hers. Yes, to say Gwen was surprised was a bit of an understatement, and the girl that had led a double life could only wear a nervous grin when Maddy stood up. “You’re home early... was there a holiday at the bank that I didn’t know about?”
Maddy shook her head, and now that she was standing in front of her completely, she could see what was in her older sister’s hand. It was a letter, and immediately Gwen’s face paled. Her shoulders tensed and she tried to appear small, a position that was otherwise degrading to someone as proud and boisterous as Gwen. “That’s from one of my teachers, isn’t it?”
“It is. And she says you’re failing.” Maddy said, not at all amused by her ‘please don’t hurt me’ antics and letting Gwen know by making sure none of the anger was wasted in her voice. She waved the paper in front of Gwen, not holding it still long enough for her to be able to read it but not really needing to see what was written to know how deep she was in. “You’re not showing up to class, and when you do, you’re either completely distracted or outright belligerent. What was the deal, Gwen?”
Gwen spat, but she kept her voice low, meek... with a hint of disgust. “That I can stay here so long as I graduate from high school.”
“And part of passing it to attend class and do your homework,” Maddy said, not giving Gwen a chance to try and explain herself. Gwen looked up at her sister, allowing her to continue her tirade and trying so hard NOT to snap back at her; no, because then she’d say something stupid, give away the truth as to why she was failing, and that would have only dug her grave deeper. “It’s not that hard, Gwen. I know how you feel- I was that age too, once! All you have to do is go there and at least PRETEND you care about your future...”
“I do care...” Gwen objected, and when Maddy glared down at her, she averted her gaze, over towards the rat cage, where Micah scuttled around in his cage. It was a mistake to speak out, but now that she had, Gwen wasn’t going to hold anything back. “I... I just care about more practical things, more important things, that aren’t school related.”
This made Maddy scoff, and the way she crossed her arms was like she was daring Gwen to dig her own grave deeper. “Oh? Like what? What could possibly be more important to a teenager than school?”
It was a trap, and even someone as brash and reckless as Gwen knew it. She could have taken the chance to tell her the truth, shown her the bruises and scars from her endeavors as a Sailor Senshi, but... she couldn’t. There were three things that Gwen found herself unable to face head on: seagulls, her growing love for a certain page of Polaris, and dragging her sister into this mess. Without Maddy... where would she be? She’d rather deal with all of the evil of the Negaverse and the Dark Mirror Court than to return to that house, with
him. So Gwen did not take the bait, and she conceded, as painful as it was to her pride. “Nothing. I’ll take my studies more seriously, okay? Just... don’t ask that question again.”
All things considered, Gwen was blessed to have Maddy, instead of her mother. Whereas their mother would have dug deeper and pried the information out, Maddy seemed suspicious, but wise enough to back off of the topic. At least, that’s how it always appeared to Gwen; for all she knew, her sister might have been doing some snooping of her own, but it was too heavy a subject for Gwen to even think about tackling today. Thankfully, Maddy was content with her victory and was eager to leave it at that. “Good, because this weekend, you and I are going to hold ourselves up at the library and we’re going to do the biggest research paper ever to get you back into their good graces! Getting a passing grade is really all I’m asking for... surely the great Gwendolyn Caspian can pull off a C, right?”
It was said with sarcasm, but Gwen knew that she did it to challenge her. Gwen liked challenges and would always rise up to meet them... always. What choice did Gwen have but to cross her arms and accept? “I’ll do better than that! I’ll do a B!”
Yes, Maddy had gained the victory here, even if Gwen didn’t realize it, and the smug smile that was on her face was lost to the audacious Gwen. Once Maddy was gone, however, the act dropped, and Gwen flopped onto the bed, face first, and was ready to fall asleep.
’Maddy... please... whatever you do. Stay out of this. I don’t think I can stand the thought of you being involved in all of this...’(Word Count: 983)
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