"What's not meant for you will disappoint you a thousand times until you finally understand" was a saying she'd heard many times before.
Unfortunately, it all rooted back to 6th grade when her best friend left her all by herself, and she didn't have any friends for two years, getting panic attacks. It all rooted back to the situation she went through from 9th grade when her friends removed her from the friend group and she cried her eyes out for the next few days.
But suffering will pass, once again, like it always does. No pain stays the same forever. It comes, then goes, then comes back stronger, or less aching, and so on. It was a neverending cycle of soul crushing, emotional pain for her.
Perhaps, the real curse she obtained from watching the blood moon that she'd been trying so hard to get rid of wasn't to have a terrible future ahead of her. It was to never have friends and to always feel alone, like she didn't matter in this world. To be laughed at and mocked. To always have people criticize what she does or says and to always be hated for even the smallest mistakes.To be pushed away and ignored like she means nothing, because maybe, she really didn't mean anything to others the entire time.
She cared about every person, and it hurt her even more when she believed she might mean something to others, only to find out they never cared about her in the end.
That was all the closure she needed to remind herself that the world is like a jungle, it hurts you and does not care about the consequences. You choose to either get up and keep going, or let yourself feel that same pain continuously until it drains you out.
Vivien longed to be understood and loved the way she did for everybody else. She wondered if she'll ever be enough for someone to stay in her life for once.
A day later after her birthday party, the girl went back to Elton High. The first thing she did was to run up to Sylas when she saw him and to show him the new accessory she had.
„Sylas, hey! Look what I have!"
The boy turned around and looked at her, noticing the yellow bolo tie she was wearing.
„It fits you."
„Does it? I love it, I'm starting to become fond of it. Is it normal to be so happy over something so trivial?"
„Oh, it is sooo stupid. I think it's so weird, it, just, isn't a normal thing! I mean... why would you even think about wanting us to match? Did you take a second to wonder if I am happy about it? What if I am not happy, but you are? What would you do, then?"
„You're messing around..."
„Yeah... I mean... sooo stupid."
„Not everything in this world is stupid, as you enjoy to enunciate! By any chance, it may not have been dumb."
„But still... sooo stupid!"
She nudged his shoulder slightly as they started walking to their class. Sylas ran his hand over his shoulder as if she hurt him and he chuckled.
„To answer you seriously, no, it isn't weird to be happy over it. We have become a pair of time travelers, we might as well match!"
Vivien didn't bring up the slightest detail about the letter he had given her and which she read even in the morning before going to school today. She thought it'd be better that way, and since he didn't mention it, either, she most certaintly shouldn't bring it up.
The halls of Elton High were loud, crowded and busy. The girl and Sylas both went to class and tried focusing as much as possible. Their final exams were giving them a bit of stress, but with enough hard work, anything is possible.
After a few hours and during lunch time, the girl took her carefully packed sandwich and went to the library. This time, when opening the door to the room, she knew how to conserve her power so she wouldn't travel forward into time again. When reaching for the doorknob, there was no purple magic. She was still into the present, and the current year was 2027.
She sat down on the chair in the reading nook, her favorite spot to spend alone time. Food usually wasn't allowed inside the library, but the girl was alert of any eyes on her and only took small bites from her food when she knew it was safe to.
She took out her books, placing „The Curse of Althemia-The Ascender of the Moon" on the table along various books about history, geography and other subjects she needed to work for.
A few minutes later, Sylas came through the door and found her sitting comfortably at the usual spot. She had told him where she could find her.
He sneaked up behind her, taking slow and carefully calculated steps. With so many other students walking by, she would definitely not have sensed anything.
„Boo!"
Vivien flinched, not having expected his sudden presence. He immediately began to laugh at her.
„You're in a good mood today, therefore I'm not even going to get mad..."
„I can tell, you're trying very hard not to let me get to you. It's admirable."
He came closer, interested in what she was doing. He noticed the multiple novels and notebooks that were placed on the table in front of her. He took a few steps closer and rested his chin on top of her right shoulder, looking over to see what she was working on.
„You're always working. It's like you have no life outside of studying and being aloof."
The girl chuckled at the sudden contact, which she also didn't expect.
„What are you doing?", she asked.
„Me? Nothing, I'm only admiring your work. It is truly impressive, but don't you think you should take a break?"
„What for?"
„For fun. Normal people do not work continuously, day and night, like you."
„What made you think I was normal in the first place?"
„Ah, I see... apologies, alien creature!"
Vivien smiled, then chanelled all of her focus on the last sentence she was writing for her notes before engaging in conversation with him again.
„It's not like people can feel amused all the time. One must cultivate the capacity to tolerate boredom, too. I prefer to call boredom ennui."
„Being bored is overrated! I'd rather do anything else than be bored."
„I'd rather do anything else than be normal, which means I'll never stop writing. Everybody has their own fixations. The pursuit of conformity is overrated."
Sylas pouted, hearing her words. He felt a certain type of annoyance at her carefully curated words and expressions. He realized they were having a sort of debate.
„You know what's fun?", he asked her.
Vivien looked over to her shoulder on which Sylas' chin was still resting on. Her gaze had an expressions which implied the question: „what?".
„Secrets. Do you want to hear a secret?"
„I love secrets. Tell me."
„I think you're very pretty, and smart, and overall amazing."
„That was not a secret. I already had a feeling you thought that."
„Tsk, heeey, you're ruining my fun, you little menace."
He tickled her, making the girl laugh uncontrollably. After a few seconds of laughter, the boy stopped, and he sat down on a couch farther away from her.
„Enough work! I'm booored."
„Hi bored, I'm Vivien."
„You did not say that to me... OH YOU DID NOOOT! Ah, such emotional depth given from Vivien exhausts me, I think I might need a long nap."
He pretended to yawn like he actually needed a nap, then patted the seat next to him.
„Well, are you going to come here? Pleeaaase."
„Yeeees, I'm coming! Be ready!"
Vivien grabbed the book about the curse and sat up, immediately throwing herself onto the seat next to Sylas.
Afterwards, the boy wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her back firmly placed against his chest.
Vivien continued to read from the book while Sylas held her close to him. He looked over her shoulder to the book she was reading.
„You're the perfect weight, like a very tragic, very stylish feather. Now, my dear, you are trapped with no way of escaping. Or, at least, trapped until I decide I want coffee, and need to get up."
„Tea is better. It is way more exquisite and refined. You'll feel like a true gentleman drinking it, but I disregarded that everybody has the free will to like whatever drink they want. A refined gentleman like yourself can choose whatever he likes, because oppresion is the killer of joy!"
Vivien continued reading through „The Curse of Althemia", hearing Sylas chuckling at what she had said. She was happy to make someone laugh.
Sylas held her close to him as she kept reading from the book, but she didn't discover anything new about the curse. Whoever watched the blood moon would receive the power to travel in time, but it came with a curse that made their future look terrible. She had that information already engraved in her mind.
The girl obtained the list of ingredients for the potion that could reverse the curse. All they had left to do was to gather them from the future realm and to brew it. Or, perhaps, to get rid of the Huldra. The order they would execute their plans didn't really matter.
The bell rang, and the two went back to their class.