From Under the Oak Tree

Prompt:

“Tell me everything.”

“I thought you didn’t gossip.”

“I don’t. I hoard it all like treasure and cackle like the goblin I am. Now give me the deets.”

It was the last week of school. The last week that Tamsin would ever spend at Albion Elementary School.

As such, Mrs. Walker wasn’t giving them any work to do. She wasn’t even keeping them inside. Which would have been fine, if they didn’t have to play endless games of soccer-baseball, dodgeball and tag. It was like a never-ending gym class, and Tamsin had had enough. It was hot, she was sweaty and she was fairly certain that Hannah Ryan had a crush on Finn. It’s not like she had a crush on him or anything, but Tamsin didn’t like that someone as blonde and perky and annoying as Hannah hanging around him. Finn was her brother’s best friend, after all. And where Pitou went, Finn usually followed. So Tamsin was really just looking out for herself. She didn’t want to spend any more time with Hannah Ryan than she absolutely had to. That’s all.

“Ms. Duchesne, are you going to join us?” Mrs. Walker asked, coming to stand in front of Tamsin with her arms crossed. There was a bead of sweat running down her cheek, and her lipstick had worn away, leaving just the dark outline of her lipliner. It looked like her face was melting in the heat.

“I’m not feeling very well, Mrs. Walker,” Tamsin said, looking down into her lap. The grass was itchy on her bare legs, but at least it wasn’t another round of soccer-baseball in the baking sun. Tamsin ignored the spider that crawled over her shoe. “I think I’m getting heatstroke. Is it okay if I keep sitting here in the shade?”

Mrs. Walker bit her lip, and Tamsin tried to keep her face neutral. It was practically impossible for her to get heatstroke. The Fae were basically immune to such earthly things, and as a Halfling, she was immune to it as well. Tamsin briefly considered casting a glamour on her teacher in order to get her way, but she could just picture the disappointment on her dad’s face if he ever found out about it.

Tamsin was saved by a shout from the baseball diamond. Pitou had thrown the ball at Finn, who was playing second base, but because Finn couldn’t catch, it hit him square in the face. “Oh – that’s – that’s fine. Ms. Harwood, would you come over here and sit with Tamsin while I take a look at Mr. Wilcox’s face?”

Arianna skipped over to Tamsin’s spot in the shade, sitting down next to her with her back up against the giant oak tree. “You were always the smart one,” Arianna said, flipping her long, blond hair over her shoulder. “How did you manage to get out of Infinite Gym?”

“I told her that I had heatstroke. I didn’t think that it would work, but then my brother hit Finn in the face with a kickball,” Tamsin said. She stared at the back of Hannah’s head, who was fluttering around Finn. God, Tamsin hated her. Hannah hadn’t even said a word to Finn all year, and just because he’d been hit in the face with a kickball, probably the softest of the balls that they used in gym, she was going to pieces? There was no flattering word for what Hannah was being right now.

“So, what do you want to do?” Arianna asked, nudging Tamsin with her shoulder. “I know you don’t actually have heatstroke.”

“You could always fan me with a giant leaf,” Tamsin said absently. She couldn’t see Hannah’s face, but she bet that she was probably crying fake crocodile tears. What a poseur.

“Or I could magically transform into Finn Wilcox and you might actually pay attention for once,” Arianna said, then laughed.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” Tamsin sputtered, finally turning to look at Arianna. Her friend was smirking at her.

“Well, you’ve only been staring at him all day. And looking at Hannah Ryan like you wanted to rip all of her hair out and keep it over your bed as a trophy.” Arianna laughed again. “I know something that I could tell you, if you wanted.”

Tamsin blushed then. She wanted to bury her face in her hands, but then it would be too obvious that they were talking about something fun and not Infinite Gym related, and the other girls in their class would start swarming. “Oh, Ari, no – it’s not – I mean – you know that I don’t like to gossip. And since when do you gossip anyway?”

“Ha!” Arianna exclaimed. “You are interested! I know that you want to know, and I can tell you, so just let me tell you everything.”

Tamsin groaned. “Fine, then tell me everything,” she said.

“I thought that you didn’t gossip, little miss perfect!” Arianna was having too much fun right now.

Tamsin swatted her knee. “I don’t gossip. I hoard it all like treasure and then cackle like the goblin that I am. Now please, please tell me what you know!”

Arianna shot her another grin before bending close. “Alright, so I know that you’ve noticed Hannah has been following Finn around like a shadow. Don’t give me that look – you’re literally trying to disembowel her with your eyes. Everyone has noticed, even Finn.” Arianna glanced over her shoulder, to where Finn was looking over at them both. He raised a hand in greeting. “But what you don’t know is that Hannah isn’t actually interested in Finn. Someone told her that the boy twin will always turn out to be the hotter one, especially when the girl twin is a smokeshow.”

Tamsin swatted her friend again. “Oh my god, they did not!” she said, laughing. "How would that even work? No one is that stupid!"

“No, they didn’t, but it made you laugh.” Arianna gestured back towards the baseball diamond, where it was Pierre’s turn to kick. Finn was sitting on the grass somewhere in the outfield, next to a nervously fluttering Mrs. Walker. “Anyway, Hannah really does have a crush on your brother though. She’s been flirting with Finn all week to try and make Pierre jealous.”

Tamsin could have sighed in relief, but she didn’t want to admit to Arianna that she had actually cared about there having been something between Finn and Hannah. Then another scary thought occurred to her, and she stopped dead. “Has it been working?” Tamsin asked.

“Mmm, not really,” Arianna said, leaning forward to pull up a handful of grass. “I overheard her complaining to Marianne in the bathroom at recess that Finn was oblivious. It’s like he doesn’t recognize when he’s being flirted with or something.”

“Oh,” Tamsin said, feeling somewhat dumb. Was that why he hadn’t taken the hint when she’d mentioned going to the grad ball together? Not that she liked him or anything.

“That’s not a surprise, though, because it’s Finn,” Arianna said. They glanced back towards the field, where Finn was now holding an icepack up to his eye. He noticed them looking and waved again. Tamsin returned it but hoped that he wouldn’t take it as an invitation to come over here. She would die if he found out that they were talking about him.

“Is there anything else?” Tamsin asked.

“Oh! Yes!” Arianna said excitedly. “It’s definitely not working out for Hannah and Pierre, because I overheard your brother telling Finn that he should ask Hannah to the grad ball because he knew that Hannah had a huge crush on Finn and she would definitely say yes.”

“And what did Finn say?” Tamsin asked, leaning closer. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, but she didn’t know why. She didn’t like Finn. He was just her brother’s best friend, was all.

Arianna scoffed. “He said that he wasn’t going to the grad ball, or even the graduation ceremony. His parents are taking him and his brother on a trip for Brandon’s high school graduation. Didn’t you know that?”

Tamsin absolutely did not know that, but she couldn’t let Arianna know that. The gloating would be too much. “Oh, right, yeah,” she said absently, looking back to find that Finn wasn’t sitting by Mrs. Walker with an ice pack anymore.

“What are you guys talking about?” Finn asked, coming to sit down on Tamsin’s other side. She was incredibly conscious of the four inches of space that he left between them. Not that she liked him or anything. Tamsin forced herself to look up at his face. A bruise was forming over his right eye.

“Nothing!” she and Arianna said quickly, then dissolved into giggles.

Tamsin looked back over at the field. Hannah Ryan was talking to her best friend Marianne, casting glances back at them. Suddenly she didn’t seem so blonde and perky and annoying.

But Tamsin definitely didn’t like Finn. She didn’t.

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