Closed In the Name of Education

[Jack Skelton]

It was a day ending in a 'y', so naturally, Jack was up to no good. For the last fifteen minutes, he had been lurking behind a rosebush trying very hard to look as if he were merely studying the flowers, but now he was on the move; through the garden, around a wheelbarrow, and up to the greenhouse where a window had been left propped open to let in a breeze. On the table just inside, a row of leafy plants bathed in the spring sunshine. Bingo. Looking around, he found a crate and dragged it underneath the window. Then he climbed atop it, and with one last glance over his shoulder to make sure nobody was looking, he carefully pushed his upper body through the window and hung over the frame. Professor Carter wouldn't miss a little bit of wormwood, would he? Just a sprig or two - enough to re-plant in the pot beside his bed. It was all in the name of education.

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere hadn't been outside her dorm for anything other than meals and classes for the first couple days of school, and thus thought maybe now was a good time for a walk around the campus. She was dressed fairly warm, a jacket a top in case the chill of the New Zealand September air was still chilly to her. As she walked in the wet grass, her rain boots squeaking slightly, she couldn't help but see something catch her eye. Movement by the greenhouse. She enjoyed the greenhouse and thus the movement was enough to pique her curiosity.

She approached just as boots went through the window. She approached and stood on the box, seeing the boy she'd met in the park before break ended. "Stealing from here too? Is a plant klepto a real thing?" She asked. Grandpa Monty had told her about the boy. Now knowing her mom was gone she was a bit more bitter about him stealing her flowers.

 

[Jack Skelton]

Jack was uprooting a second stem when a voice startled him so hard he hit his head on the window latch. “Oh, hi,” he said. Probably not the person he wanted to catch him stealing plants, but it was better than a professor. "It's not stealing. It's for science!" He'd tried to tell her grandfather the same thing, but the old man hadn't been able to hear over his yelling. In Jack's defence, he hadn't known those flowers had belonged to her now-dead mother, and after she'd told him he'd taken several of them back. "It helps them grow, if you prune them," he added, as he pocketed the second sprig and went in for a third.

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere couldn't help but laugh a little when the boy hit his head on the latch of the window. She kept a skeptical look on her face as he talked, clearly lying out his head. "Really? Is now the best time to be pruning wormwood?" She asked trying to pick out just how much or little he knew about the plant he was stealing. She looked around behind herself before deciding to join him inside, not very graceful in her entrance. Something about entering the green house when she wasn't supposed to was kind of thrilling in reality. However she would chalk it up to keeping an eye on the thief in front of her. "What would you use the wormwood for anyways?"

 

[Jack Skelton]

"Well, any time is better than no time," Jack hedged. He thought Ainmere was about to drag him out by his ankles, but to his surprise, she joined him under the window instead. "Oh, hello. Do you want some, too? I mean, do you want to help me 'prune' them?" Grinning, he poked around for another good bit. He hesitated before answering her question honestly. "Just... to grow it. I've never grown wormwood before. I couldn't get any from your granddad, so."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere couldn't argue with his logic, not pruning was much worse for the plant than pruning early or late she thought. She looked at the plant and then back to him as he offered her some of it, as if it were his to give - with all the confidence in the world. As he answered her question she looked down. "You shouldn't steal things, even if it's for education...." She trailed off and then thought for a moment. "What if you get caught after all?" She tried to reason with him, her moral compass clearly strong.

 

[Jack Skelton]

When Ainmere looked down, so did Jack, his cheeks turning pink. Why did he steal? Professor Carter would probably have given him a few stems of wormwood if he'd asked. But the asking part was more scary than the stealing part, and it wasn't half as exciting. "They say if you see someone doing a crime, and you don't try to stop them, you're just as guilty as they are," he said, tidying up some soil that had fallen out of the pot. "It's OK, I can run pretty fast."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere caught the pink tinge in his face and knew she had hit some sort of sore spot. Then he said something that made her flush a bit. "So you're saying I should turn you in?" She asked in an almost incredulous tone. She wasn't a thief. Though now that she thought about it she'd never tried. No. She wasn't a thief, her parents raised her better than that. "Running fast doesn't hide your face. I'm surprised you don't have stockings over your head." She teased.

 

[Jack Skelton]

"Sure," Jack said. "If you don't want to be my friend." Immediately he regretted offering her the choice. Finding out that Ainmere was a witch had been the silver lining in moving to Aotearoa. The chances had been so slim, he could only conclude there was some divine intervention, though he didn't believe in any god. "I can't hide my face. That's the thing that gets me out of trouble. All right, I've got enough." Slipping the wormwood into his pocket, he tried to duck out from the window. But his coat had snagged on something, and he was stuck. "Um. Slight problem..."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere made it look like she was thinking about his offer before stating, "Well I don't have many friends so I guess I can't risk that." She said, a little too honestly. After all, her sister probably wasn't her friend anymore. "That face gets you out of trouble? I'd assume it was the other way around." She teased. She watched as he tried to leave, becoming stuck. She covered her mouth, laughing just slightly as she did. She then moved to try and help him. "Can you stand on your tip toes, i think I can get you unstuck."

 

[Jack Skelton]

Really? Jack found it hard to believe Ainmere wasn't a popular girl. He smiled at the idea of her being like him - awkward, lonely, a misfit. That was probably a bit of a stretch. But she must have been telling the truth if sticking around with him sounded appealing. "It's a bit of both," he admitted, a genuine, bashful smile creeping across his face. Leaning forward on the window frame, he stood on his tip-toes. "Like this? Careful of my coat."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere liked the bashful look on his face and his cheeky humor. She happened to think Jack was sweet from the day they met, sitting next to her on those park swings to try and comfort her. Stealing was just a hiccup in his personality she was sure. As he raised up slightly she grabbed at the jacket pulling up delicately at the material and slowly unsticking him from his spot. Now she was really an accomplice. “Okay there, should be good.” She said moving back slightly. “You just have to promise to help me get out of here since I didn’t leave you stuck.” She laughed.

 

[Bertie Brigham]

Bertie had just been for a stroll around the grounds and was heading back to the castle when he noticed some rather suspicious activity by the greenhouses. It looked like a whole lot of not his problem, but as a professor he supposed he had a responsibility to at least investigate. "Excuse me," he said, growing mildly curious as he approached. "What are you doing, there?"

 

[Jack Skelton]

Freed from his bind, Jack slid out from under the window and hopped off the crate. But those extra few seconds stuck on the window had cost them dearly, for a professor had seen them, and he was fast approaching. "S**t," he said. "Leg it!"

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere hadn’t expected any professor to make approach, but one did - and one she would hate to see considering her knee Monty. “Oh no!” She groaned before making her way out of the greenhouse even less gracefully than she had made her way in. She then took off, trying to watch to make sure Jack stayed near her. After all he was the one who had snuck in in the first place, and stolen! She was innocent. Right?

 

[Jack Skelton]

Jack ran, keeping a few paces behind Ainmere. If the professor did catch them, they'd get him first.

 

[Bertie Brigham]

Bertie shrugged to himself. Whatever they had been doing, they weren't doing it any more. He carried on toward to the castle, rather enjoying the feel of his new power.

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere, once sure she was not being followed, slowed and caught her breath. She leaned over for a moment, hands on her knees and took in a deep breath. "That was close." She laughed, looking at Jack. "You're going to get me in trouble, that professor know my grandfather." She said, but she was grinning quite wide. This was such a rush that she couldn't believe it. It had been months since she'd felt this kind of excitement. Like stealing a cooking from a cookie jar. "You didn't drop anything did you?" She asked, hoping he had all his plant starts.