Chapter Six Three months passed, and spring came to Boston. Buds sprouted on the trees, and a few leaves dotted the branches lining the streets. The birds were returning from the south, and the animals in hibernation started causing the usual mischievous trouble along the outskirts of the city when the came out at night to raid trash cans, or simply see what had changed over the season. Charles and Allyriane continued to keep company with one another, and he was a regular dinner guest in their home. For the most part, their little romance went unnoticed by the school they attended. Certainly everyone knew that they were friends, and that their parents were close. Yet that was all that they knew about the couple. Elan did not even know how deep the relationship went; although she kept a constant and jealous eye on them ever time they walked arm-in-arm down the hallways of the school. Charles� roommate, William Sanchez, was the son of a very prominent bank owner in Boston, and his parents were very close friends of Elan�s. They had known one another since they were children, and as she grew into the coquette she now was, their relationship behind their friendship often had a few secretive benefits. She had never been a bedfellow of his, however, despite how much she knew he must want her. She enjoyed teasing him much more; heating him up and then dropping him cold. It was a very helpful game when she needed something done for her. He wasn�t the only young man she played that game with, even though she wasn�t seriously attached to a single one of them. �Elan, you are aware that the lunch bell just rang, aren�t you?� Turning from the scene of Charles making his way out of the building with Allyriane and a group of their friends, she smiled up at William softly. He was dressed smartly in blue crushed velvet, and hat his ebony hair growing in long, slightly curled strands that he had drawn back by a ribbon, as most of the young men in the school did. Short hair had recently become a fashion in the state, yet few of the young men in their school had picked up on it yet. Fluttering her lashes at her long time friend, she reached up to touch his shoulder. �Billy!� She greeted the rather plain looking gentleman. He was not necessarily very handsome, but he certainly could never be considered ugly. Except for, just perhaps, the little strip of beard growing on the center of his chin. �Billy, where have you been all week? Studying for those ridiculous exams? I�ve been looking for you everywhere!� �I�m sorry, my dear. It�s that pretty-boy Chagney. Whenever he�s actually home a half hour before curfew, he keeps me up half the night talking about that ridiculous little G�nie girl. He goes to her house at least three times a week for supper. So every night he�s back at the room, I have to listen to him talk about what she said or did, or what happened with her family the night before.� His oak green eyes rolled in annoyance, and Elan found herself scowling. �Do you mean to say that he�s still got gaga eyes for that simpering little contractors daughter?� �I�d watch how I was talking, if I were you, Elan.� William replied hastily, in a low voice. He reached up to gently remove her hand from his shoulder. �Her father is getting pretty damn powerful. I�ve heard that even our President may be commissioning him to design a new vacation house for him. He�s gaining a vast fortune in a very short amount of time.� �Oh, I hate her!� Elan spat. �She�s just a little gutter snipe, and she has no place in our school! She has no place making eyes at Charles!� William stared at her for a long moment. He knew that his friend wanted his roommate all to herself. Charles was the only man she really had ever passionately wanted, and he had no doubt it was because Charles de Chagney was the only man who had ever refused her. He knew she could be a malicious little snake, as dangerous as a cobra. William had spied for her more than once when it came to Charles� affairs. �Oh, Billy . . . I wish there were a way to take care of her.� Elan said softly. She put her hand back on his shoulder, and then traced it slowly up the side of his neck. Used to her teasing, William wasn�t nervous about her attention to him. Yet he was nervous that a teacher might see this, and expel them both. He couldn�t very well be sent back to Connecticut if he was expelled. His father would damn near disown him. He simply stood there, outwardly unmoved as Elan started moving dangerously close to him. �I�m afraid there isn�t.� He finally replied. �Oh, but there could be!� She exclaimed in a soft whisper. This was really getting to be too much. Elan was his friend, and they always teased one another, and had shared a few fondling sessions in the shadowed hallways of parties. Yet she was one of the most beautiful ladies in the whole school. It was difficult not to remain completely unaffected by her catlike rubbing. �You could help me, Billy. You�ll help me, won�t you, my friend?� �Elan, I always have. Haven�t I?� He challenged gently in return. �I�m not doing this job for free, though. I�ve done enough for you for free. What payment do I get?� �Hmmm . . .� She traced a finger along his jaw teasingly. He couldn�t believe that this woman was still actually a virgin, the way she behaved. �How about; the very thing you�ve always wanted from me?� William dropped the books he�d been holding to his chest to keep them at least slightly separated from one another. The sound of the heavy books hitting the floor echoed through the halls, and he looked about nervously to make sure no one was watching them. Looking back to Elan, he swallowed thickly. �What do you want me to do?� ///////////////////////////----------------------////////////////////////////////////// �Masquerade?� Allyriane asked quietly as she sipped at her afternoon tea with the ladies from her choir lessons. �What Masquerade? This is the first I�ve heard of it. I�ve never been to one before, although they really were quite popular back in Paris.� �It�s an end of the year celebration.� Susan Rameka, an alto of the women�s choir, said softly. �Obviously you know what a masquerade is. Well, that is all this party is, a masquerade for the students. It doesn�t happen at the end of the year simply because the professors want a chance to actually reprimand anyone who behaves with misconduct!� Every lady around her laughed, and Allyriane had to keep from rolling her eyes. There was nothing wrong with giggling and being silly. Yet some of these girls seemed so flighty and so gossipy. It was ridiculous, really. Still, these young ladies were her friends. She would never think ill of them simply because their personalities could be a bit dim from time to time. �Michael Czar, my beau, and I, are going as Romeo and Juliet.� Susan continued. �I�ve heard that Elan Pantaleoni plans to go as the goddess Athena, and that William Sanchez is going with her � as Narcissus!� Everyone squealed with laughter at that. To imagine William going as the god of vanity was hilarious. Not a single woman in the school thought him particularly attractive. Certainly he wasn�t an Adonis, as Narcissus was supposed to be from the books they read. Then, all eyes slowly turned to Allyriane. �Who do you think you�re going to be?� Marie asked softly, brown eyes batting lightly. �I think you�d make a very pretty Ophelia!� �Ophelia?� Allyriane grimaced. �No . . . my father always tells me I would have made the perfect Aminta. That�s a character from an Opera he wrote when he was younger. I�ve never seen the manuscript, but he told me that I looked like the character.� �Oh?� Susan piped up eagerly. �Who do you think you�ll go to the masquerade with? What will he dress up as?� �He�ll dress up in whatever costume he wishes.� She replied. �I think it is very cute how other couples find costumes that compliment one another. Yet I think Charles has a mind of his own.� �Charles?� Everyone around her exclaimed, and thus the cat was formally out of the bag. �Do you mean Charles de Chagney, the French Vicomte? You are so lucky! He�s the best-looking man we have in the entire school!� Allyriane blushed, glancing down at her hands as she settled them onto the white pleated skirt of her lap. Charles and she had not been trying to keep their romance a secret. They simply found no reason to shout it from the rooftops that they were courting one another. Only her parents, Charles� father and sister, and Charles� roommate, William, had known that they were seeing one another with romance in mind. �Well, thank you.� She finally murmured a bit embarrassedly. �I�m sure that he�d thank you too for such a compliment.� Inwardly, she was wondering how she could convince Charles to take her to the masquerade. Also, she was wondering how she could tackle the harder task of convincing her father to let her attend! /////////////////////-----------------////////////////////////////////////// �You do realize that if we get caught, we�ll be thrown in jail. Don�t you?� �We? Who said anything about we? I�m not the one that�s going to give the little brat what she deserves.� Elan tossed her hair flippantly as they sat in her sitting room, having evening tea at her home. �All you have to do is get her into an unguarded corner. How hard can that be? Drag her up to your room if you have to!� �Elan, I never thought you could be so nasty.� �If you don�t want to help me, Billy, I�ll find a man that will do it without half so much as you want from me in return!� �Now, I didn�t say that I wasn�t going to do it! Calm down, Elan!� �How long until you find out for certain what Charles is going to be at the masquerade?� �Two weeks or so.� �You�d better find out sooner than that. We need time to get you the same costume if this is going to work!� �Don�t worry. I�ll get it soon enough. He never shuts up about what they�re going to do together in the future. He�ll let his costume plan slip through his lips without even knowing it.� |