Vol. 6, Chapter VII — Vanessa’s Folly

School weekends always feel like they go by way too fast, and this one felt like it had ended in the blink of an eye just after having started. Violet and I were talking about it as we approached the school gate, holding hands as usual, my shoulder occasionally bumping into her arm. We did manage to get a lot of stuff done, so we couldn’t really complain in that regard, and we also did get to do a fair amount of couple-bonding time, so in that regard, we couldn’t complain either, but still, we wanted to have had a bit more time just to relax. Snuggle while watching a movie, giving each other massages, have silly conversations about serious stuff, things like that, you know?

“Let’s try not letting so much stuff accumulate over the weekend this week,” Violet was telling me with a sigh. “But maybe not today. I don’t have Library duties today, so maybe we just head home, do the homework, and then we relax for the rest of the day.”

I laughed and was going to poke fun at her, saying one thing and immediately saying another that went against it, when we got tackled from behind by someone who wrapped their arms around us. Mathilda’s perfume, today being strawberry-based, was all over us as she poked her head between us and delivered her greeting, almost shouting. Violet and I both stopped midway greeting her back, stunned by what we were seeing.

“It looks good, doesn’t it?” Mathilda said, giving us some distance and running her fingers through her hair. “I had a lot of views and donations this last stream, so I decided to dye my hair to match my avatar.”

Violet and I exchanged a look before looking back at her.

Mathilda had, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, dyed her hair into a bubble-gum-pink colour. It’s not that it looked bad on her, quite the opposite, as I found it… cuter, as I stared at her more. My wifey and I were just shellshocked by the sudden—and very attention-calling, everyone that walked by us stared at her—nature of her transformation. Her cheeks looked a bit rosier now, thanks to her hair, giving her a slight blushing look too, adding to the cute factor.

“It looks good, but…” Violet started.

“But it will take some getting used to,” I added.

“Yeah… and sorry, but I can’t really say if I prefer it to your natural hair colour,” Violet finalised, having found her courage to give her honest opinion.

“Well, I can always dye it back to its natural colour if I grow tired of it,” Mathilda said with a shrug. “As I understood it, it will require quite the upkeep for it to stay like this.”

She then grew a large smile and dove right in on us, wrapping her arms around us and telling us all about her weekend for a second time, and all about her last stream this Sunday. The level of excitement she was showing from just having walked around the mall holding hands with Stephen after the movie, and him having smooched her forehead after dropping her off at her place, was super endearing and nostalgic. I’d occasionally glance at Violet as Mathy told us about it, and Violet would blush slightly as she too was remembering those early days of our courtship. Then came her stream, Mathilda having managed to finally break the four-digit count of viewers. As for the donations, she made a nice sum that day.

“Say, Violet?” Mathilda called, her voice turning more serious and hopeful. “Do you think I could live by myself if I started making this semi-often?”

I found myself chuckling, having thought immediately that she’d be able to pay her gas, electric and water bills with that, but it’d be a stretch.

“Hmm, frankly, not really,” Violet told her, adopting her serious but nurturing tone. “It might cover some bills, but there’s also the food, toiletries, stuff needed to keep the house clean and tidy, and most important of all, some emergency savings that you need to make in case something breaks, or if any other unplanned expense comes up, and that’s just the very basics.”

At that point, we had arrived at our classroom and were sitting at our desks, Mathilda rotating her chair to face us. She crossed her legs and arms as she hummed about it not being enough after all. Sher then asked how much Violet thought she’d need if she moved to a tiny apartment and lived frugally.

“Sorry, I really don’t know,” Violet told her. “If it’s in our town, I can give you an estimate of pretty much every monthly expense except for rent. What I can tell you is, if you live with someone, it might make things a bit easier since, just because two or more people live together, it doesn’t mean the budget doubles, or triples, or whatever. It does go up, but not by the number of people sharing the place, I mean.”

“Really? Huh, good to know,” Mathilda hummed as she pulled out her phone and started writing down what Violet just told her. “So, in your opinion, how many people should I share a house with?”

“I think maybe one more could be enough,” Violet told her. “Assuming you could make that much money every weekend of the month, that is, but I’d advise you getting another, more reliable, source of income, at least at the beginning.”

Mathilda was humming in agreement and nodding as she quickly typed that out into her phone, thanking “Mumma Violet” for her advice.

With an exasperated sigh and an annoyed look at my snickering self, Violet told her to also write down to stop calling her that.

The conversation was then interrupted by Jessy, who came to greet us as usual and then proceeded to fawn over Mathilda’s new hair colour, our friend puffing out her chest and fanning her hair as she bragged about it. Then, Jessy dropped a bombshell.

“You look just like your avatar now!” Jessy told her, Mathilda’s cockiness disappearing, now seemingly starting to sweat bullets.

“W-what?” Mathilda stammered, barely able to look at Jessy’s face. “W-w-what do you mean b—by that?”

Jessy’s eyes opened wide for a second before she leaned closer to Mathilda and cupped her ear, whispering something into Mathilda’s ear.

“Y-yeah,” Mathilda said with half a voice. “S-so if you could keep it a secret…”

“O-of course!” Jessy promptly said, keeping her voice in a hushed tone. “Oh, and erm, do you plan on eventually doing some merch? I’d love a plushie, or a keychain, or something like that.”

While they talked, I teased Violet about Jessy now having found someone else to fan over. Violet rolled her eyes at me, and when she looked back at Jessy, Jessy was staring at us with a smile.

“You know, I think you two have gotten prettier ever since you got married,” she told us. “Like, Violet looks more… more serene instead of just being a cold beauty while you, Abby… You look a bit more… mature? Sorry if I’m being weird. What I mean to say is that you two look better than ever.”

Violet turned all shades of red as she thanked Jessy, while I wasn’t that far behind, as I had a giggling fit and rubbed my face all over Violet’s hair to hide it. Jessy could be a bit awkward, but seriously, she was probably the nicest girl I've ever met.

“Stephen is here!” Mathilda gasped, snapping us all back to looking at her. She was all amped up, fixing her clothes and smoothing her hair as she prepared herself to greet him. But then we realised who it was he was talking to as he came inside the classroom: Vanessa. And it wasn’t just talking, as she was laughing and touching his arm as they chatted, making Mathilda look like she had someone rubbing a lemon all over her tongue, and then proceeded to kick her dog.

We watched her get up and walk towards Stephen with short, quick steps. To our surprise, she hugged the arm opposite the side Vanessa was touching, slightly pulling him away from her.

“Morning, Steph!” she chirped, loud enough that we could hear.

“Mathy! Your hair…?”

“Do you think it looks weird?” she asked him, now resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Not weird, just… surprising,” he said, starting to find his footing. “I actually think it looks very cute on you.”

She blushed and giggled as she thanked him, looking completely disarming, if you allow such indiscreet comment from a married woman… girl.

She then went straight for the jugular, asking him if he’d like to go have ice cream with her at the park after school, but that wasn’t the worst part of it; it was what she said once he agreed to it.

“It’s a date, then!” she said with a final chirp before kissing his cheek, leaving no doubts that he was out of the market, and so was she. She even did that thing of lifting a leg as she delivered the smooch.

And while she came back to her chair looking like she was sparkling, Vanessa looked like she had just watched her whole world crumble. I felt some satisfaction in that, after all she made Violet go through, but when I looked at Violet, my wifey looked a bit sad. The two locked eyes for a second, and I saw Vanessa’s lower lip tremble before she bit it and turned around, her eyes seemingly holding back tears.

“You know, Abby,” Violet said, moving a hand to prop her head up as she watched Vanessa’s friends go after her. “I really don’t like feeling pity for people, but I’m really sorry for Vanessa.”

“How so?” I asked, tilting my head. I knew Violet didn’t hate her, but she’s someone who holds grudges like no one else.

“…Because I still vividly remember you telling me how scared you were that I’d fall in love with somebody else that wasn’t you,” she told me, now looking at me. “She’s been a huge pain in my life, but I really feel bad for her because of that. Even if ultimately, this is all her doing because she was so dead-set on hating me and refusing to believe that you and I are in a relationship.”

True, it was ultimately all Vanessa’s fault, obsessing over hating Violet, thinking Violet was doing stuff for popularity's sake and leading Stephen around. This was all a consequence of that, having failed to realise—no, rather, blinding herself to the fact that, regarding Stephen, it wasn’t Violet who was a threat to her crush, but Mathilda instead.

Like Violet, I was recognising Vanessa’s folly, but I was now also feeling pity for her for the exact reason Violet was. And this was the second time Vanessa found out that Stephen liked someone else too, so it probably hurt even more than the first time.

“Gee, now I feel really bad for her too,” I mumbled as I adopted the same posture as my wifey.