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Lamina walked along the roundabout way to school with Velvereen, each of them clutching a basket in hand which held their lunches. It was a sunny day which helped to soothe her nerves, although there wasn’t really much to worry about. Lamina had been attending school for three weeks now and had learned many interesting things, both about academics and the social normalcies of her new home.
Velvereen quickly peeked into her basket—Lamina admiring the newly red trees—trying to decide the best way to divide up her three raspberry tarts between them and other girls at school. According to her, any girl who refused to take part in the pooling of lunches was decided to be “awful mean.” Lamina wished she had something as sweet as tarts to share, but she had only cornbread. Still, Tigris had very generously provided her with syrup to go with it and she refused to be ungrateful.
Tigris was the woman who had adopted Lamina just a few months ago. She was a hardworking and selfless seamstress who had been looking for a young boy to run the family farm after her cousin had run off with some girl from the states. It had been a rather bad shock when Lamina had arrived at the train station instead, shakily clutching a carpet bag in hand. Still, dear Tigris hadn’t had it in her heart to send her back, not when Lamina had burst into tears at the realization that she had been expecting someone else. The girl had sworn she was tough and could handle things on the farm, but Tigris wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, she had decided to keep Lamina as family and had hired a boy named Tanner who lived not far away, to work and harvest the land as well as care for the animals.
School had started at the beginning of fall and despite her anxieties, Lamina had been enjoying it rather well. She had read every book she could get her hands on at the orphanage and was thrilled to be learning more despite being rather behind in her studies, which embarrassed her to no end.
Thankfully, despite Lamina’s humble upbringing, the other girls were quite kind to her. Dill had lent her a little beaded ring to wear one day and Lysistrata had even smiled at her warmly during last week's spelling competition. Yes, Lamina couldn’t help but grin when she recounted that.
“Treech’ll be at school today, Lamina. He’s been gone for a visit to his cousins for some time, but I hear he came home Saturday night. He’s the same age as us,” Velvereen told her with a smile, interrupting her happy musings as they walked. She was a bit of a gossipy girl, which Tigris said was a bad habit, but Lamina didn’t particularly mind. It was much easier to receive news with Velvereen around, who she had decided ages ago was a bosom friend.
“Well, that’s nice,” Lamina told her, not really sure what to say, so instead she busied herself with listening to rustles of the leaves. She could easily imagine they were voices, whispering to her.
“He’s in the same class as you, y’know?” Velvereen continued. “A while back, his mother fell ill, and he had to leave for a long time to help take care of her, so he missed lots of school. He’s still smart, though. It’ll be harder for you to keep ahead of the others now.”
Lamina nodded, refocusing on her friend’s words as she heard the mention of class.
“As it should be,” she reasoned. “It’s not much to be proud of keeping ahead of a couple of ten-and eleven-year-olds.” She quite liked the idea of a little challenge, especially from someone who was actually her age.
Velvereen nodded in agreement, and finally they arrived in front of the little white-washed schoolhouse. It was only one room, but Lamina didn’t mind too much, except for when the students got too loud and upset her ears.
The two girls hung up their hats and coats in the coatroom, Velvereen standing on her toes to reach before they each took a seat at their desks, one beside the other.
As Lamina organized her school supplies and studied her primer in wait for the teacher, Velvereen took in the room and eventually turned to whisper in her ear.
“That’s him. Across the aisle,” she told Lamina, who discreetly looked over to see the boy in the next desk over.
Treech was a young fellow with dark curly hair and a hat head which he—for some reason—hadn’t removed. He was clearly engrossed in the book before him, which he was slowly paging through with one hand while he drummed his fingers on his lap with the other.
Lamina soon turned away, knowing it was rude to stare. He seemed like a pretty ordinary boy overall, perhaps a bit more studious than the others. She wasn’t sure why Velvereen seemed to think him deserving of so much attention.
Still, she found herself glancing over one more time, trying to decide what about him was so “special.” That was when Treech looked up from his book and, catching her eye, winked rather playfully.
Lamina quickly turned back to her primer, cheeks flushing slightly. Thankfully, when she checked to make sure the boy wasn’t looking any more, he had turned back to his schoolwork. What she hadn’t noticed, however, was Treech turning back to admire her the second she looked away.
Their teacher, a strict and harsh woman by the name of Gaul soon quieted the rest of the school with a wave of her hand and began to write out lesson plans for the day on the blackboard.
She first led the students through some math related problems, a student from each class being made to go up to the board and show their work. Lamina was deeply thankful she wasn’t chosen and instead one of the younger children was. She liked learning and even showing off a bit, but in a room so full of people she was just too nervous.
After this everyone was assigned pages to read from their primers and Miss Gaul went to help her oldest student in the back, a young woman by the name of Clemensia. Lamina thought their teacher seemed to have it out for poor Clemensia, but she never spoke of it to anyone but Velvereen.
Turning open to the assigned page in her primer, Lamina had just started to read when she felt something small hit the back of her head and drop to the floor. Upon further study, it was a broken piece of chalk.
Turning to the direction it was thrown from, Lamina was again eye-to-eye with Treech, who was grinning at her, clearly happy to have been acknowledged.
Lamina frowned at his rudeness and turned back to her book, Velvereen eyeing her with confusion.
It wasn’t long after that a second bit of chalk was sent her way, this one landing directly by her feet. Apparently, Treech did not have a very consistent aim.
This time Lamina kept her eyes trained on her book, tapping her foot slightly. Tigris said the best way to get someone to leave you alone was by ignoring them. Lamina had her doubts, but felt no desire to make a scene, especially since only her, Treech, and now Velvereen seemed to notice the situation.
Disappointed by his failure to gain her attention for a third time, Treech looked around the room before quietly walking over to Lamina. In his hand was a sweet red apple. He crouched beside her desk a bit and held it out to her.
Velvereen’s eyes widened at this proposal while Lamina’s eyes narrowed and she continued to read (or pretend to read) her primer. All the nerves she had felt on her first day seemed to be back times two, all because of this overly insistent boy.
Treech pressed his lips together into a frown at this seeming rejection and after a moment, he whispered to her.
“Hey. Carrots.”
Before Lamina could even find it in herself to get mad, she felt a small tug on one of her braids. That was when she leapt up, eyes filled with vengeance.
“How dare you!” She exclaimed angrily before sliding her slate off the desk and bringing it down so harshly on Treech’s head that the poor board cracked down the middle.
The room filled with complete silence and then laughter as Miss Gaul made her way to the scene of the crime, eyes full of cold fury.
“What is the meaning of this?” She asked Lamina aggressively, her expression so hateful the girl thought she might burst.
Treech, who was still wide-eyed from what had occurred quickly stood up straight and spoke.
“It’s my fault, Ma’am. I teased her.”
Miss Gaul paid him no heed.
“I’m sorry to see a pupil of mine with such a vindictive spirit. Lamina, go stand at the blackboard at the front of the classroom.”
Lamina would have much preferred having her hand beaten raw with a ruler than to undergo the eyes of so many on her. Still, she followed the teacher’s orders and nervously walked up to the front of the school, but not without sending Treech a bone-chilling glare first, from which he very nearly quivered.
As she stood before the class, she watched as Mrs. Gaul write over her head “Lamina has a very bad temper,” and then read it aloud for the students who did not yet know the alphabet.
Lamina felt she might just die as she stayed there, rooted to the spot for the rest of the day, her eyes trained on the floor. If she had only looked up, she would’ve seen Velvereen’s sympathetic gaze and Treech’s guilt-stricken look.
When school was finally dismissed, Treech tried to intercept her at the front porch door.
“I’m awfully sorry I made fun of your hair, Lamina, truly. It wasn’t right,” he attempted to explain, but Lamina just swept past him, Velvereen following behind and shooting him a disdainful look.
“You musn’t mind him, Lamina. Boys are dreadful anyway,” Velvereen told her on the walk home, clearly having changed her mind about Treech altogether.
Lamina shook her head as she continuously kicked a pebble in front of her, still fired up by the whole fiasco.
“You don’t understand, Velvereen. You might if you had red hair, but you don’t. He hurt my feelings excruciatingly.”
Now the whole ordeal of excruciation may have been forgotten eventually and Lamina and Treech may even have reconciled soon, if it hadn’t been for the next day.
Miss Gaul announced at the beginning of the day that the school needed a reformation and was enforcing a new rule. During the time she went home from lunch, the students always got a brief recess. Now Miss Gaul expected them to be back and firmly in their seats by the time she returned. Any student caught breaking this law—or so it seemed to the children—would be severely punished.
All had gone well until the reformed recess. As always, the children snuck off to a nearby farmer’s land to pick blackberries, which resided in large bushes at the end of the property-line. They all promised themselves they would only stay for a moment, but the berries were too seductive, luring them in and biding them to stay as long as they could.
While everyone snacked and covered their fingers with the delicious juice, Lamina perched up in a tree, looking over at the pond in the distance. She had always found a sort of reassurance in trees, and considered them the most human-like of all plant species. In her romanticizing, she did not notice Treech watching her from the ground. He had learned his lesson, now carefully keeping his distance.
Suddenly, there was a cry of “she’s back!” and the students all took off in a panic, fearing the imminent wrath of Miss Gaul.
Most of the girls—who hadn’t strayed as far—took off running and made it to the schoolhouse in time. The boys—who had ventured further into the thickets—were less fortunate.
Poor Lamina was the worst off of all. She had been too taken with the lovely scenery to notice the others leaving until it was too late.
Luckily, Lamina was fast, and she had caught up with the boys by the time they reached the front porch, where Miss Gaul stood menacingly.
There were far too many students late to punish without taking up the whole day, but Miss Gaul also needed to prove her authority and Lamina, being the odd one out, was made the scapegoat.
“Lamina. Since you enjoy the company of the boys so much, I’ll indulge you. Sit next to Treech,” the teacher commanded harshly.
Lamina’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment as a few kids began to laugh, while others looked at her pityingly. She stayed where she was, rooted to the spot.
“Lamina, did you hear me?” Miss Gaul asked, now even angrier.
“Yes, only I hoped you might not mean it,” she admitted.
Miss Gaul scoffed.
“I assure you I did,” she responded sarcastically, in the tone she only used for her most hated students. “And you’ll obey me at once.”
Now holding her head up high, Lamina followed Treech and took the desk next to him, sitting up rigidly. She was determined not to acknowledge his existence and the whole situation.
Treech himself looked terribly guilty, though this time it was not his fault Lamina was in trouble. He tapped his fingers on his desktop anxiously, trying to think of a remedy for the situation. Then, getting an idea, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small candy heart, which he had gotten a whole bag of on the way home from his cousin’s.
Carefully, when he was sure nobody was looking, Treech slid the little heart candy onto Lamina’s desk. She looked at it, and for just a moment, he thought he saw an acceptance of the peace offering in her eyes.
That was when Lamina gingerly picked up the candy, dropped it on the floor, and ground it to a fine dust under her boot. Treech looked at her with wide eyes, clearly dumbfounded.
It hurt Lamina to ruin something so sweet and beautiful, but Treech’s expression made it all worth it. How dare he think she could be bought with delicate candies, no matter how delicious?
Eventually the time to go home finally came. Lamina rose from her seat and stacked her books, writing tablet, pen, and ink nearly upon her cracked slate. Then tossing her braids over her shoulder she gathered her coat and hat haughtily from the coatroom.
Velveteen dutifully followed with a worried look while Treech let her go ahead, lingering at his desk.
“Oh Lamina, why do you have all your things? You’re not leaving the school, are you?” Velvereen worriedly as they walked down the school’s front steps.
Lamina turned to her, adjusting her hat firmly as her mouth creased into a deeper frown.
“Of course not. I would never let a boy get in the way of my education. I only mean to study extra tonight. I intend to beat him fair and square and I need something else to occupy my mind, anyway.”
Velvereen nodded in response and followed Lamina down the path that led to the both of their homes. She looked rather relieved now, not wanting to lose her friend or be alone in class.
Velvereen had no need to ask Lamina who she meant to academically beat. Treech was going to need to work hard if he wanted to be top of his class this fall. Yes, Lamina was determined. She was going to turn this year around, and Treech could do nothing to stop her now now.