Three years after the students of Bridewater College graduate, a school-organised event brings many of the old students back together at the campus they'd once adored...

—

THEO AND I went together, of course, meeting in London after travelling down from our respective universities. We took the Portal together to Bridewater.

The invitation had come down a month ago. It had been expected: it had always been tradition for the graduates of Bridewater College to return after three years. Three years was the amount of time most of us would be graduating from university, unless we were taking a four-year course or took a gap year. It was something a few of us had been looking forward to since the day we'd left the school.

It was February, so it was still rather cold as we arrived. Theo took my hands in his as we stepped out of the station and were immediately met with a blast of cold wind. I winced.

"I forgot how bad it could get here in winter."

"It's arguably much worse up north," Theo said wryly.

"But I forgot how bad it is here."

He looked amused. He always looked amused around me, that much hadn't changed since our days here. But I think, after our brief separation last year, we'd learnt to treasure each other's presence in our lives a lot more. This was all the two of us had ever known in the romantic aspect. It wasn't a bad thing, but when he hadn't been in it, I'd felt so... empty.

It had been strange. It wasn't heartbreak, not precisely. Just a void where he'd once been. Where I felt absolutely nothing.

Audrey had come a day earlier than I did. She said she wanted to meet up with some of our old day student friends, but Theo couldn't get away yesterday. So she went ahead without me, and we agreed to meet up in Bridewater instead.

So far, everyone I'd asked said they were coming back: Audrey, Gwen, Louisa, Yunji, Adelina, James Taylor, Sara, even James Withington. Though I'd heard that from Adelina, rather than him himself. They still weren't talking. I hadn't talked to Withington since my first year of university, actually, when he'd wished me happy birthday on Instagram.

But the rest of us still kept in contact. Nowhere as regular as before, of course not, but we all met up once or twice a year. I think it had something to do with England being such a small country—it felt like everyone was within an hour or two train's journey of each other, and that was even more convenient with Portals, though that was more expensive, and Portal Stations weren't available in every city or town.

"Me, I just can't wait for the shitty food," Theo admitted earnestly. "I've enjoyed life so much in university, you know. Being able to cook my own and order takeaway whenever I want. Not being forced to eat cafeteria food."

I snickered. "Ditto that. The real reason I looked forward to every weekend back in those days was for the takeaway."

Theo tilted his head. "Takes talent, to cook shit that bad."

"I wholeheartedly agree. I still cannot understand how they fail so miserably at every simple meal. How do you mess up pak choi?"

"I think the answer is quite obvious. By being British."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I hate that that is probably the true reason." Five years down the line, and he still made me laugh the same way he did when we were sixteen.

We were twenty-one now. That was difficult to get into my head sometimes. It had been so long.

We chose to walk back to school. It wasn't all that long a journey, and gave us a chance to see the places we used to visit every weekend. Though Theo argues that he never went out of school as frequently as I did, which I suppose was true. He rarely seemed to leave school on weekends except with me. The guys all had preferred a nice takeaway in their common room rather than heading out.

After half an hour, we arrived at the grand gate of the school. I stared up at the iron gates that seemed so familiar yet so far away in my memory, the cream bricks and the vines clawing their way upwards. It was a Saturday, so the school was quiet inside. Only the full boarders would be here today. I wondered if I'd run into anyone I knew. Some of them hadn't graduated yet, the younger years who'd already been here while I was still a student.

"Let's go," Theo said, grip tightening around my hand. We exchanged a glance and a little smile.

The security guards were still the same people. They recognised us, but still called out one of the teachers organising the event to come out and lead us in.

It was Mr Jenkins, the housemaster of Wadsworth House. I was glad to see that he was still here, all these years later.

"Ah, I remember you two!" He flashed a grin. "Glad to see you're still together."

"Five years," Theo said with a tilt of his head, "still going strong."

"Always nice to see young love working out," Mr Jenkins sighed, waving us in. "Come on, come on! There's already some people waiting in the great hall. We're going to have to go through a bit of a speech from the Headmaster, I'm afraid. But then we all head out to lunch. Promise it's better than the usual food."

"Honestly," I murmured, "I was hoping to have a taste of the normal food, sir. Might put a stopper on how much I want to go back in time and just be a student again."

He let out a merry laugh at that. We were led into the great hall, where there were already a few groups of people waiting. It felt like those years ago. Everyone in their little friend groups, sometimes mingling, sometimes just keeping to those they were familiar with. Old friends who hadn't talked in years. A few couples who had broken up, glancing at each other from a distance and then looking away.

Adelina located us first. She attacked me from behind, wrapping me in a large hug. "Honoria! You're here!"

I almost stumble and fall, startled. She was much stronger than she had been back in the day. Though she was doing far more training than she ever did then, so it was expected. Meanwhile, I'd all but given up Duelling on the whole. I didn't have time at university, and my university was a non-magical one anyways. There weren't many opportunities.

"Sorry we're a bit late," I replied apologetically, patting her on the back a few times before taking a step back. "You good?"

"Yeah!" There was a bright smile on her face as always. She hadn't changed all that much. Her muscles were now more toned and defined, and she was a lot tanner than she'd been back in school. Her choice of colours for clothes had also started to dial down in the past few years, but it was still the same pair of eyes that looked back at me. "I'm so glad everyone is here again."

"Is anyone else here?" Theo asked, amused.

"Most of the Lok girls are here already," Adelina replied, her eyes still trained on me. "Haven't seen Sara or Yunji yet, though."

"I think they're both going to arrive soon," I assured. "They said they'd come."

Adelina nodded, dragging me off. "Come on, let's find the other girls. Fuck off, Theo, find your Aesir boys." Theo cried out in protest, but Adelina ignored him and I followed to a corner of the room.

Like she said, a collection of Lok girls had gathered up there, chatting with drinks in their hands. I'd stopped talking to a majority of them some years ago. One or two studied at the same university as me, but the rest I'd never been that close with in the first place anyways. They'd slowly turned into faces I saw on my Instagram feed once a couple weeks, people I'd suddenly remember.

It felt weird, being face to face with them again. Remembering how out of place I'd been with them back then, how I'd struggled to fit in. But time seemed to have changed some things. Everyone started catching up, chatting about the good old times and where who and who were now, and whether they were coming today.

Gossip had been a vital part of my years in Bridewater. That seemed to still be in our DNA, even these years later.

But because we had friends outside of Lok House, the group soon broke apart as we all went to search for our respective friends. Instead of reuniting with Theo, I decided to try and locate some of my other friends.

James Taylor was the one I found first. He was dressed stylishly in a plain suit and a green scarf, and I arched a brow as I approached. "You're awfully well-dressed for a simple reunion."

He flashed a smile. "Just want to impress everyone, you know?"

"I think you've achieved your goal." He'd grown very confident in the past few years. He'd been participating in a lot of debating and public speaking, and won a lot of awards as well. It was difficult to match the current him to the boy in the library all those years ago, alone by himself.

But then again, it was difficult to match most of them to who they were when they were fourteen years old. They'd all grown up. From dreaming about becoming an adult and going to university, to being on the cusp of stepping into the real world. Into working, into becoming fully independent and taking care of themselves.

It felt like she'd only blinked. As if yesterday she was still fourteen and arriving at Bridewater College for the first time, and now she was standing here again.

"I want to find Audrey and the others," I told him. "I think she's here by now."

"Did she not come with you?" Taylor asked, raising a brow.

I shook my head in reply. "She took the train yesterday. Theo and I only came down today."

He hummed. "Glad to see you're still going strong. I think you're one of the only pairs."

I snickered. "It hasn't been all smooth sailing, I assure you."

"Of course it hasn't been. It's a high school relationship that somehow managed to survive university. If it was all smooth sailing, I'd be calling it the Ninth Wonder of the World."

I scowled, giving him a light punch on the shoulders. "Now you're just making this dramatic."

His lips twisted upwards. "I'm always dramatic. You ought to know this by now, after so many years."

"Thought you'd changed," I told him. "I honestly thought your flamboyant personality was a phase back in the day."

"It's not," he said with a smirk. "It's part of who I am."

"I've realised that by now. Okay, can we look for Audrey now or what?"

Mockingly, he bowed and gestured towards the crowd with his arm. "Be my guest, Hon." I rolled my eyes but said nothing, walking back to join the crowd, Taylor following behind me.

There were lots of old teachers who'd taught me, or who I'd seen around school during my years here. It was nice to see most of them still teaching at Bridewater. I failed to locate Coach, though, not that I particularly wanted to see him either. He hadn't been awful, but his sessions had been gruelling.

Audrey was with Louisa and Gwen, as I'd expected, though I hadn't thought Sara would be with them as well. Sara squealed when she saw me, running up and giving me a wild hug. We'd met up from time to time, and we'd also kept in touch. She was having the time of her life in university, being the genius she was.

"Guess who finally decided to show up," Audrey drawled, before she noticed James Taylor standing behind me. "Oh look! It's my favourite Wadsworth boy!"

Taylor raised one brow in a silent question. Audrey pouted. "You are my favourite Wadsworth boy."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment."

"Do you think so lowly of your house?"

"At many points in my life, yes," Taylor replied sardonically.

Louisa just snickered. Gwen looked bored, glancing around the room. "Where's Theo?" she asked me.

"With his friends, I think. Adelina dragged me to the other Lok girls."

"Classic Adelina," Gwen said with a sigh. "She hasn't changed one bit, you know? I thought she would but she hasn't. She's still the exact same girl as before."

"She's fine as she is."

Gwen looked thoughtful. "I suppose so."

"We should totally go out for dinner tonight," Louisa murmured. "I know we're going to have lunch together and all... wait, you guys are staying until tonight, right?"

"Theo and I are taking the Portal back to London and then going by train from there. Our train's at nine in the evening. We're going to stay here for dinner," I confirmed.

"Perfect. Taylor, what about you?"

"Train's at seven forty-five, so it might be a bit rushed," he said apologetically. "If we eat early, or if I leave early, though, that's fine."

"We can find a restaurant near the train station," Gwen suggested. "There's where most of the good food is anyway."

Audrey wrinkled her nose. "Taylor, why not just Portal?"

"No Portal station at my university. And I don't mind the train. It's peaceful."

"It's disgusting and slow and always gets delayed."

I glanced at her, amused. "You took the train down from school to London before Portaling here."

"Yeah, but like... oh, fuck that."

Gwen tilted her head. "Are you two still living together?"

Audrey nodded. "I've been leaching off her cooking for the past two and a half years. Let me tell you, it's the best choice I've ever made."

"She buys the ingredients," I explained, "and I do the actual cooking. Seems fair enough, doesn't it?"

"Sounds smart," Taylor agreed. "You know, I've never tasted your cooking before."

"Come visit us sometimes, then," I laughed. "I'll cook a welcome meal for you, don't worry."

"Where's Yunji?" Sara asked, crossing her arms. "I've been looking for her."

"Late, probably," Taylor murmured. "She's a busy girl. With all her performances and whatnot. I think she's going to become famous, honestly. She's already getting quite the reputation. A lot of the music kids at my university have heard of her, it's quite fascinating."

"She'll give us all autographs when she's famous," I sighed.

"Of course she will," Audrey said matter-of-factly. "We'll force her into it either way."

Louisa glared. "Audrey. No."

"You haven't changed at all either," Taylor said with a sigh. "Still as short-tempered as ever, Audrey?"

Audrey narrowed her eyes at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," I explained patiently, "that you're still as willing as ever to use violence as a means to an answer. Or at least threatening to use violence as a means to an answer. Either way. Me, I'm used to it. The amount of death threats she delivers every day in our apartment... It's insane. She hasn't been arrested yet."

"Because I don't actually plan on going through with any of them!" Audrey shot out.

"So," Taylor mused, "that means none of us need to be scared of your threats because you aren't actually going to carry through with any of them."

Audrey seemed to be at the end of the ropes. She slanted James Taylor the deadest of looks before turning away with a huff.

Louisa raised a brow, glancing at me. "Aren't you going to find Theo, Hon?"

I blinked. "What for? I can survive without him, thank you very much. He's probably having fun with his Aesir boys."

"He's staring at you from the other end of the room. I can see him," Louisa deadpanned.

"Well," I replied, nonplussed, "just ignore him, then. If he wants to see me, he'll walk over."

"He's walking over now."

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

"He's not alone." Gwen had turned to the direction Louisa was looking at, brow raised. "Who's that with him? Oh hell, is that James Withington?"

We all turned at that. It was James Withington besides Theo, but at the same time it wasn't. He'd changed. A lot. His formerly blonde hair had been dyed a dark brown, and his skin was far more tanned than it had been three years ago. It was still his body, but it looked as if the soul inhabiting the body had been completely changed and replaced.

"It is him," James Taylor murmured, frowning. "I don't remember him looking like that."

"That's because he didn't look like that," Sara whispered. "Jesus fucking Christ, man. He looks like he's been to hell and back."

"He's not the same Withington we knew for sure," I agreed. "I'm glad Adelina's not here with us, for better or for worse."

Sarah glanced at me, chagrined. "You think this is all because of Adelina?"

"I mean, Adelina was the catalyst that started... transforming him those years ago, wasn't she?"

But Theo and Withington had reached hearing distance by then, so we stopped talking. I grinned at Theo as he made his way towards me. "Look who finally decided to come back."

"Thought I might bring Withington over to say hi."

The man in question offered a weak, lopsided smile. "Hello folks. It's been a while."

"Nice hair," Louisa commented softly. "It fits you."

"I like to think it does. But I don't know. I just needed to try something new." It was the same pair of eyes that looked back at us, but I felt like I was speaking to a stranger I had never met before. I had questions, a lot of them, but one look at Theo and I kept quiet.

"What you've been up to, my guy?" James Taylor asked, trying to keep his voice light.

"University," Withington replied as if the question amused him, shaking his head. "Been pretty boring. But kind of what I expected."

We all nodded. No one knew what to say. We hadn't known what to say to James Withington for a while. Maybe we just weren't people on the same path. Maybe he'd broken off on his own little unbeaten trail after Adelina had rejected him those years ago.

I found it pathetic. If this was genuinely just because of Adelina, he was more sad of a person than I thought he was.

I understood, but I did not respect it. But it was his life, and he could do anything he wanted with it while I had no say. I didn't know if I could even be considered friends with him anymore. Old schoolmates at best. We hadn't spoken for so long. I hadn't bothered reaching out to him actively, and he'd never reached out to any of us as far as I was aware.

"Well," he mused, glancing around at all of our silent state, "I'm going to head off now. Catch up with some of the other boys. Nice seeing all of you."

He didn't leave to hear an answer. He turned and left without as much looking back. We all stared, in silence, watching him get further and further away before rejoining the crowds of students around the great hall.

Sara broke the silence. "Damn."

Gwen shook her head. "No point dwelling on that now. Where is Yunji, by the way?"

"I'll give her a call," I offered, whipping out my phone. I walked to the side for a moment, dialling her a quick call.

She answered on the third ring. "Hello! Hello! I'm almost there, literally can see the school gate now. Are you guys already there?"

"We're all already here," I told her. "Hey, are you going to stay for dinner tonight?"

"Duh!" Yunji laughed. "Of course I am. Wait, wait, okay, I'm going to hang up now, see you in like, two minutes."

The call ended and I rejoined the group with a grin. "She's coming."

Audrey nodded. "Yeah. I'd be worried if she wasn't coming. Where is she? She's already like half an hour late."

"She's Luo Yunji," I said with a sigh. "What do you even expect? She's at the gate now. So she'll be here in just a moment."

—

THE SCHOOL FOOD was just as bad as I remembered. Even for such a special occasion, the school catering team had failed to procur anything special or particularly tasty for lunch. It was beef stroganoff, which was already one of my favourite meals from the days when I was a student, but it was still simply quite awful.

It was three o'clock when we left the dining hall. We were told we could stay around and take a few photos if we wanted to, but not to head into any of the dorm houses or classrooms. It wasn't a school day, but they might still be in use.

We'd split up into smaller groups. I was with Theo, Sara and Audrey as we headed towards the sports hall. Theo, Audrey and I were going because it was where we'd spent so much of our time duelling, and Sara was heading just because she didn't have anywhere else to be.

Everything looked the same. I could almost imagine us still in those grounds, duelling or playing badminton or just running around and being chaotic. But it was all behind us now, all so far in the past.

If I shut my eyes, it almost felt like it was Saturday afternoon when I was in Lower Sixth again, having just been messaged by the girls to come out and have a game of badminton. And showing up, seeing all the full boarders messing around, the Cantonese and Mandarin being flung around...

There was no going back now.

At one point, Audrey and Sara went to the side to inspect some old mark in the wall that Audrey had apparently been guilty of, and Theo dragged me to the side.

"Let's go up the roof."

The roof.

That was where it all started, wasn't it?

It looked unused. It didn't look as if anyone had really been up there for a while. Maybe the teachers had finally realised that it was a bit of a safety hazard, this dark and unlit roof, and banned students from coming up here by themselves.

That was sad. They'll never know the feeling, then, of being up here, the wind in your hair and the boy you loved sitting with you, staring at the moon, admiring all the stars.

"Damn," I whispered. "It still makes me feel the exact same way it did all those years ago."

Theo let out a hearty laugh. "It's like nothing's changed at all."

"I keep saying that to myself," I snort. "I keep thinking that. It's like nothing's changed since those years here, and yet I know that absolutely everything has already changed."

Dinner, we decided, would be eaten at a cosy steakhouse not far away from the Bridewater Train/Portal Station. We went there in a whole pack. Taylor had to leave early, so he ordered and ate quickly, but the rest of us stayed behind for a while, just chatting. Discussing life, discussing our futures.

"Feels weird," Louisa mused. "Last time we were all gathered like this it was graduation night. And now we're all about to go off and start doing our Master's or go back home or whatnot."

"Feels like it was yesterday we were all fifteen and idiots," I remarked.

Sara snorted. "Well, I wasn't here then, but it does feel like yesterday the first time I arrived here in Bridewater."

"Was it a pleasant surprise?"

"It was raining cats and dogs and I was dripping wet from head to toe."

"Ah. Typical."

Gwen snickered. "It's not exactly a Bridewater special. If anything, I'd order that it's better here in Bridewater than, say, up north. At least the south is relatively warm."

Louisa and Sara, who both studied up south, scowled.

Yunji grinned. "Your mistake, coming to England and choosing the coldest areas to study in while being frightfully unprepared for it. Oh, what's the coldest temperature in Hong Kong in the winter again? Like ten degrees celsius?"

I tilted my head. "Yeah, more or less."

Yunji shook her head, lips pursed. "Pathetic."

"What's pathetic about that?" Sara asked, frowning. "At least I never have to freeze in sub-zero temperature like you have to in the winter in Shanghai."

"I'm not in the winter in Shanghai," Yunji said blandly.

"What, does Christmas does not exist?"

"Well, it's coldest in Shanghai in January, and by then I'm already back home. December isn't usually that bad."

Theo raised his hand. "We are not here to discuss the temperature and climate of our home cities. We are here to talk about how nice university is compared to Bridewater College, and how we all miss it anyways."

"Of course we miss it," Audrey said matter-of-factly. "It's the candy-coloured filter nostalgia has thrust onto it. Like, anything that wasn't absolutely awful becomes bearable and nice with the passing of time."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this," I suggested.

"I put a lot of thought into everything."

"That," I mused, "I doubt."

And of course, the reaction I earned was a hard glare from the girl across the table. "I'll keep my eyes open when I sleep tonight if I were you, Honoria Song."

"I'm not going back tonight," I said with a sigh. "I already told you about ten times this week. I'm staying at Theo's tonight, remember? I'm going back to our place tomorrow night."

"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot."

I raised my hand. "There. Evidence she does not put a lot of thought into everything."

Gwen and Louisa were staring at us like we were idiots. Sara and Theo looked faintly amused, and Yunji just shook her head with a laugh. "Jesus. I remember watching you two argue back in the day."

"Happens too much," Audrey said, stabbing her knife into her steak. I winced.

"Eh, it happens just rarely enough that it doesn't get on the annoying side." Yunji flipped her ponytail. "Quite entertaining. Especially after life stopped feeling like a soap opera after sixth form started."

Sara pouted. "It got boring after I arrived."

"I think everyone just grew up a bit after JCMs. You know, the stress and everything just forced us all to grow up a little. Stop being immature brats stirring up trouble everywhere we went and all that stuff." Theo rubbed his nose. His other hand reached for mine under the table, and when he'd finally grabbed my hand he gave a light squeeze. Was that meant to mean something? Was he suggesting that I was too immature before JCMs and that after that I grew up?

I slanted him a look, but he ignored me.

"Either way... I'm grateful for all that happened," I said slowly. "Without Bridewater, without those four years—or well, two for you, Sara, we wouldn't be here who we are now."

"Whether it was for the better or for the worse," Yunji murmured.

I nodded. "Whether it was for the better or for the worse."

We were all silent for a moment as we thought of James Withington.

"No matter now," Louisa said cheerily, raising her cup. "A cheer to our youths, folks. Because time doesn't stop. It didn't stop then, it won't stop now. To living in the moment. To being young, to being brave, to being ready for anything life throws our way. And to acing university and finding our dream jobs so we don't end up homeless on the streets."

And we all thrust our cups into the air and gave a hearty cheer.

It was the best of nights.

hi! i know i promised to write this like weeks ago, but exams got in the way and i only got time to properly get started today, since i have a short break in the middle of my gcses :) but because it was so rushed, i didn't have as much time to explore every character as i might have originally wanted to, but i think this is still a fairly nice little addition to the main story of the bridewater duology!!

i might do some short tales with smaller casts set during the storyline itself, because it was a bit difficult handling such a large cast in a 4800 worded chapter and doing justice to every single character, but that will have to wait until the summer.

it's been a hot second since i've visited this series and damn!! i am still actually vvv proud of it. hope you all still enjoy this series as much as i do, and that you had fun reading this little extra chapter!

karlie out!