Chapter 16: Older Sister
The clean white answer sheet was covered in neat handwriting. Julian Hayes had already filled in his name and student ID. He read through each question carefully. None of the options in the French listening section contained any unfamiliar words.
A few minutes later the bell rang, and a clear professional female voice came over the speakers. Julian listened intently, picking out the answers from the audio playing in his earbuds and marking them down with growing confidence.
It wasn't particularly difficult. Maybe his French had genuinely improved. He finished the entire test a full half hour early and went back over every answer, checking carefully.
He felt good about it, a spark of real confidence for once. After handing in the paper he headed back to class, steered clear of the kids comparing answers, and killed time flipping through his textbook for the next subject.
These placement exams carried more weight than usual. It wasn't just the chance to make it into the honors classes. After everything his teachers and friends had said, Julian felt real pressure pushing him to give it everything he had… and, strangely, the thought of ending up in the same class as Margaret and Hannah kept surfacing in his mind.
It wasn't that he was hoping for anything more with Margaret. He just… somehow wanted to stay close to her. Wanted to be able to turn his head and see her right there.
The thirty-minute break passed quickly. Julian headed to the next exam room early. When the bell rang he dove straight into the next hour-and-a-half battle.
The two days of testing ended faster than he'd expected. With the results now out of his hands, Julian tried to let go and stop obsessing while quietly bracing himself for the worst possible outcome.
"What are you zoning out for? Did the tests fry your brain?"
Hannah Reeves spotted Julian sitting blankly in his chair and patted his shoulder, her tone light and playful as she tried to snap him out of it.
"Didn't do well? It's fine. It's not the SATs. Worst case, I'll tutor you later."
Julian looked up into her big sparkling eyes and understood the kindness behind it. He grinned back. "I'm just a little nervous. I honestly don't know how I did."
"Then stop overthinking it. The more you dwell, the worse it gets." Hannah raised an eyebrow.
"Alright. Thanks."
"No need to thank me. I'm heading out first. See you!"
"See you."
Hannah grabbed her backpack and left with a group of laughing girls. Julian sat quietly for a while longer until the room had mostly emptied out, then finally stood up.
Margaret wasn't waiting for him at the door. Slightly puzzled, Julian walked over to Room Three and peered through the window. She was sitting alone inside, head down as she wrote something.
She looked stunning when she was focused like that. Her side profile was breathtaking—delicate nose, soft pink lips, a few strands of hair falling by her ear that made her feel incredibly real and captivating. It almost felt wrong to interrupt.
The tip of her pen suddenly stopped. Margaret glanced up, spotted him at the window, and smiled. She packed her things, slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked out.
"How did the tests go?" Margaret asked, her expression soft and gentle.
"I'm not sure. French should be okay. The rest… wasn't too bad."
"Then there's a good chance we'll be in the same class?"
"Hopefully. I'll… be counting on you from now on."
"Hehe." Margaret covered her mouth as she laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling. She reached out and gave a light tug on the hem of his shirt, tilting her head to look at him. "After all the tutoring I've given you, don't I deserve to be called Sister?"
Julian froze. He hadn't expected her to say something like that out of nowhere.
"Uh… sure. If that's what you want… Margaret… Sis—"
"Wait."
Margaret suddenly pressed her index finger to his lips, cutting him off. "Julian, how old are you?"
He was confused. The finger resting against his mouth was slender and porcelain-smooth. She smiled at him, looking both beautiful and a little coyly adorable. It stirred something faint in his chest, like the first tiny sprout pushing through soil.
"Seventeen… almost eighteen. Why?"
"Same as me. But your birthday's in December, so I'm a few months older."
Margaret stopped walking and stood directly in front of him, lifting her face slightly to meet his eyes. "I changed my mind. Don't call me teacher anymore. Call me Sister."
"You really want me to call you Sister just for a few months?"
Julian spoke casually, but his mind was quietly thrown by the detail.
She… remembered my birthday?
"Come on, just once."
"Alright… Margaret… Sister…"
"Mmm. Good boy."
Margaret reached up and gently ruffled his hair, smiling with deep satisfaction as she fully slipped into the role.
"There. Let's go before we're late."
"Okay, okay… little brother Julian."
...
Margaret stood behind the counter with her usual polite smile, handling the line of customers in front of her. Every so often she glanced over at Julian, who was just as busy.
"No, hold on… I ordered the grilled sausage rice bowl. This is the chicken rice bowl."
A young customer looked at the takeout container she'd handed him and politely pointed out the mix-up.
"I'm so sorry! My mistake. Here's the right one."
Margaret apologized repeatedly and quickly swapped the boxes.
"No worries at all."
The customer took the correctly bagged meal and left without making a fuss over the pretty girl.
Margaret collected herself and moved on to the next customer.
She was normally meticulous and focused whether at work or school. Mistakes like that simply didn't happen to her.
She knew exactly why she was distracted. A dark fear had been shadowing her relentlessly lately, something she had never felt threatened by before.
She had been the one closest to Julian, carefully controlling the pace and slowly drawing him in until he would see only her.
But recently things weren't going as planned. Besides Hannah, there were other cheap, flashy girls always bringing him up in conversation, gossiping about him.
Of course Julian wouldn't choose them—those girls didn't deserve him!
…Still, the fact that he was being coveted made her deeply uncomfortable. Whenever she remembered their delusional words, nausea rose in her throat and violent impulses stirred inside her.
Even more dangerous was her growing craving… She could no longer control the urge to get closer to Julian, to touch him more. Her original careful plan was falling apart.
She had started acting completely different from her usual self, using jokes as cover to openly touch the boy, feeling his scent and warmth. It was the only way to soothe her maddening affection and ease the unbearable longing.
Drinking poison to quench her thirst—she savored every drop anyway.
When would she finally be able to taste this unique, irreplaceable sweetness?
Sneaking around pretending like this… How ridiculous. How shameful… How pathetic.
"Margaret?"
A hand tapped her shoulder. That clean, faint scent—she had become extremely sensitive to it.
"Why don't you sit down for a bit? No customers right now. You've been standing forever. Aren't you tired?"
Julian stood behind her, having brought over a stool and set it by her feet.
"I'm okay. You take it."
"…Suit yourself." Julian sat down beside her. He looked tired, head slightly lowered as he made small talk. "Payday should be coming soon. I actually managed full attendance this time—no missed shifts. Should get an extra fifty bucks or so. You didn't miss any either, right? We've been coming in together every day."
"Yeah. Together."
"Still not a ton of money though. Hard to save much. The boss is pretty fair, only scheduling us for three-hour shifts and still…"
Julian casually looked up mid-sentence and the words died in his throat.
Margaret had bent down extremely close—barely two fists away—staring directly at him.
"Wh… what's wrong?"
He met her dark obsidian eyes. The whites were perfectly clear. Her beautiful face looked cold and devastatingly intense, like a dark angel gazing down at him.
"What is it?"
Julian asked in confusion. Margaret didn't answer. Her lips were pressed tightly together, as though she was barely holding something back.
"It's… nothing."
Margaret straightened up, her expression smoothing back into perfect calm.