Jessica Hayles

August 11, 2020 11:27 AM

Sending politest well-wishes. by Jessica Hayles

Jessica had noticed Felipe’s absence in class, of course. For one thing, their class – though the largest at Sonora – was still not particularly large. For another thing, it was still habit to be aware of where he and Zara were at any given time, even though she was only trying to avoid one of them now. The debate over whether a given class was a good time to tentatively test out this new permission to try working together in class sometime or not was new, but the habit had been established for about a year, and habits died hard with her.

She had not, however, thought much of Felipe’s absence from classes at first. People got sick and missed class sometimes, even in the wizarding world, though it was rarer here. It was odd that he didn’t show up in any classes all day, but it was only on the second morning that she began to become a little concerned. Accordingly, it was at lunch on the second day that she started drafting the text for a get-well card , working on it in idle moments through the second half of the day before copying it out onto a Lalo correspondence card and slipping it into a pale rose-colored envelope, sealed with a shiny gold sticker printed with a very flourishing letter J, which matched the rose-colored double border edging the plush white writing surface.

Hi,

I noticed you weren’t in class yesterday or today, so I’m guessing you must be really sick with something – making medical stuff get better fast is definitely one thing I’ll admit we’re better at here than they are at home. If that’s true, then I hope you feel better soon. I don't want to intrude, but let me know if you want to borrow any of my notes once you’re back, or anything I can do.

Jessica


After supper, she went down to the owlery to send this missive off, she assumed, to some infectious disease wing of the hospital ward she hadn’t seen before, altogether unaware that at least one other person would almost certainly examine its contents before it ever reached its destination.
16 Jessica Hayles Sending politest well-wishes. 1442 1 5

Felipe De Matteo

August 16, 2020 10:28 AM

Wish for what? by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe had no idea what to do with Jessica's letter, in part because it seemed like a very long time ago that Jessica had existed in the capacity she seemed to in that letter. At one point, they'd been friends. That was a lifetime ago. At one point, they'd been enemies he supposed. That wasn't quite as long ago. But then they'd been decent and maybe going to try again. The problem was that another lifetime had passed since that conversation. Everything with the quidditch game, everything with his conversation with Zara, everything with Mara . . . everything. Did Jessica know? Had Leonor told anyone? Had Mara told her about their conversation?

Dr. Greene had given him Jessica's letter without any real words of caution, so she obviously thought it was okay to get and respond to. He was sure that she would check his response of course. But the problem was that he didn't know if it was okay. What was he supposed to say? Jessica was another name on a list of people he'd disappointed and one of the many voices that had been running through his mind a few nights previously and he had the distinct urge to pull his head open and forcibly remove all the contents when he thought of her, or anyone, too much.

She had to know he wouldn't use her notes when Zara had been in class. That he wouldn't ask for her help. That he couldn't. That he wouldn't even if he could. His mind ran in circles trying to think of how he could respond, until eventually he got paper and prepared to actually do so. He wrote it in Spanish.

Jessica,

Thank you for your concern for me. Everyone thinks I'll make a thorough recovery and I should be back to classes next week. I appreciate the offer of help and I'll let you know if anything comes up.


He hesitated, knowing what he wanted to say but not knowing whether he should. Finally, he went for it, although he wondered what Dr. Greene would think.

I hope you and your sister are well. Lookalike out for each other for me.

Felipe
22 Felipe De Matteo Wish for what? 1434 0 5