N I C H O L A S

Nicholas wasn't always as confident as he let others believe. He wasn't always as strong, nor as hopeful. But he kept pushing himself on, trying to ignore the words of warning his parents left him, saying how these foolish and empty dream weren't going to get him anywhere.

It was during Professor Johnson's class when Nicholas volunteered to read his poem out loud for everyone that day. It might not have been perfect, but he read it with a mask of confidence over his face as he stood at the front of the classroom:

Go to sleep, my love
Go to sleep, but hold me tight,
for the night is filled with my sorrow
and empty of our dreams...

If it's a sin to kiss you,
then bless me, oh Lord,
for I ache to be your most sinful of your creation...

So kiss me, my love,
as not even these heaving rivers can separate us

And if the world tries to force us apart,
I will tear down the world just to have your sin planted upon my lonely lips one last time.

He read, and as he spoke, the words blossomed, slipping through his lips like honey. When he finished the rest of the poem, he lowered the paper with a pleased blush upon his cheeks as everyone began to clap lightly. With a bright smile, he handed the paper to Professor Johnson and returned to his seat.

The remaining time in the class only allowed two more students to read their poems before the professor began their lesson, and after another hour had to dismiss them.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Make way for the greatest poet in history! Make way!" Shawn said dramatically as they passed through the halls, making Nicholas laugh and causing the rest of the students to stare.

"I would've loved to stay longer and see Shawn embarrass you, but I have to get to the music room for practice," Luca told Nicholas a smile. "We're all proud of you, Niko. I'm sure you're going to be great author one day."

Shawn watched Luca leave and turn the corridor, finally disappearing out of sight, before saying, "Have you noticed that Luca's been spending more and more time in the music room?"

Nicholas shrugged unsurely. "Yes, I suppose."

"You don't think that he likes someone in his music class, do you?"

"No, I don't think so. Anyway, Luca told me yesterday that he has a surprise for us, but he said that we have to wait until Christmas to find out. I think it has something to do with his music."

"He told you that himself?" Shawn's brows furrowed. "Then why didn't he tell the rest of us?"

"Dunno. Maybe because Luca is closer to me than the rest of you."

"Now that's just bullshit," Shawn retorted, his frown deepening.

"Why are you getting so defensive about this? It isn't a big deal." Nicholas let out a chuckle to lighten the mood. "Look, I'm sure he loves all of you. But it's just that... you do tease him a lot, Shawn. Everyone needs a little bit of support and encouragement from time to time."

"I guess you're right." Shawn let out a sigh in defeat, running a hand through his hair thoughtfully. But his grin was quick to return to his face when he saw someone approaching them from the other end of the corridor. "Looks like we've got a guest."

The moment Nicholas turned around, his heart leaped in his chest when he saw a girl with long golden hair walking up to them, her book hugged tight to her chest. It was Eve.

"Hey," Nicholas stuttered out the word when she reached them.

"Hi." Eve smiled at both of them shyly before turning to face Nicholas. "I... um... I just wanted to say that your poem was amazing."

Nicholas couldn't help the little awkward laughter that left him as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know you were listening."

"Of course I was listening," she said, smiling. "You have that effect on people. Whenever you speak... people can't help but to listen."

Nicholas smiled back at her, losing himself in her eyes as silence took over. Shawn, however, was still standing there, staring between them amusingly.

"Er... I should better get going." Eve cleared her throat, taking a step back from them, though she kept onto her smile. "See you later."

"Later," said Nicholas, his voice coming out as a small whisper as he watched her turn around to leave.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Shawn suddenly said in a serious tone, catching Nicholas's attention.

"Hear what?" Nicholas mused.

"Can't you hear it? That noise... Oh, my!" Shawn gasped mockingly, placing a hand over his heart in a dramatic gesture. "It's wedding bells! I can already hear them!"

Nicholas rolled his eyes. "Don't start."

"You're the one who started it, lover boy. And you're going to be the one to finish it," Shawn said with a mischievous smirk. "Now here's what you're going to do: you're going to talk to her, then ask her out on a date, then you'll marry her and have lots of babies and I can be a brilliant uncle that they're going to love and I'm going to give them gin for the first time when they grow up. Now go and talk to her, or I'll make you."

"Shawn, please don't do anything stupid —"

"Oh, please. I invented stupid." He scoffed, before suddenly shouting, "Hey! Blondie! There's something my mate here wants to tell you!"

Eve turned around to see what was going on, by which time Shawn had pushed Nicholas forward before quickly running out of the corridor.

He'll never grow up, Nicholas thought to himself with a disappointed sigh.

"Is everything okay?" Eve asked him with a giggle.

"Sorry about my friend. He might be tall, but he's still a seven-year-old boy at heart," Nicholas said jokingly, though he fell silent afterward. He was always good at speaking, but now he seemed as though he had forgotten how to form the words. "Um... I was wondering... Would you like to go out for a cup of tea with me?"

Nicholas held his breath, waiting for her to answer. But the relief washed over his body when she finally nodded. "I would love that."

***

Their wordless walk through the campus was spent with sheepish smiles and little side-glances at each other, until Nicholas and Eve finally reached the coffee shop down the street from the Berrington University.

The coffee shop was a cozy little place with a few small wooden tables set outside it on the sidewalk. A light sound of jazz music was coming from inside, mingled with the fragrant smell of coffee and the sweet scent of bread that came from the bakery beside it.

"I sometimes come here to study," said Nicholas after the waiter took their order.

"It's lovely," Eve said with an amused smile, looking inside the coffee shop through its window while they were sitting behind one of the round wooden tables outside. "It's surprising how there are so many empty tables here. It seems like a nice place."

"There's a 24/7 American-styled diner at the street corner, a bit further down from here. It opened up at the end of last spring. Everyone usually goes there now," Nicholas explained. "Before that, a pub called Tony's was in its place. Not many students went there."

"I've never been to a diner. I'd like to go one day," Eve then let out a small sigh, placing her elbow on the table and resting her chin upon her palm as she dreamily gazed away, watching the cars and people pass them by. "It makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"What?"

"Well... it just makes me excited to think about all the museums, book stores, coffee shops, and all the libraries I haven't gone to yet. Or to know that there are so many great books I haven't read or many songs I haven't listened to yet that might become my favorites."

For a moment, Nicholas lost himself in her words, in the sweetness of her voice. He could listen to her speak for hours.

"I'm sorry," Eve said when she caught him looking at her, trying to snap herself out of the daze. "I know I tend to talk a lot when I doze out. That's what everyone keeps telling me."

"No, no of course not!" Nicholas shook his head earnestly. "I love the way you talk about things... You make the little things in life sound more wonderful."

"Well, I feel like the little things are what make life wonderful."

When the waiter returned with their order at last, she placed one cup of coffee in front of each of them, along with two plates. Nicholas's plate contained a croissant which had been cut from its middle, filled with sliced bananas and strawberries, and the top of it was designed with melted chocolate. On Eve's plate, there were two freshly made cinnamon rolls with white cream on top of it.

"Gracious! It feels like Christmas in my mouth!" Eve's eyes widened as she took the first bite, and Nicholas chuckled. "By the way, I read your newspaper this week."

"Oh?" he raised a brow at her, taking a sip of his coffee. "And what did you think?"

"I think it was written perfectly. Although, I did have two questions," she said. "Why did you name your paper 'Scriptores'? What does it even mean?"

"It means 'writers' in Latin. Our friend, Isaac, suggested it. He studies Latin."

"Wow, that's amazing! I've always been fascinated with that language. I can understand it a little, but not well enough."

"What was your second question?"

"Right..." Eve placed down her fork, her expression suddenly turning more serious. "It's just that... you told me you were going to interview a few people about Nancy, so you could share good memories of her. I read your paper, but I couldn't find any of it."

"We did ask around about Nancy Green actually, but... no one seemed to have known her well enough. She didn't have many friends, did she?"

Eve shook her head. "None that I knew about."

"It's odd," Nicholas mumbled, as though mostly speaking to himself. "I had seen her a few times from afar, and I always assumed she was one of those people who had many friends. What was she like? Her personality, I mean."

Eve's face darkened with sadness, as though a shadow had fallen upon her soul. "She... she was a very unusual girl."

"How so?" Nicholas asked, but Eve failed to answer him. She wouldn't even look up at him.

"It doesn't seem right to talk about her this way. I-I'm sorry I brought her up in the first place. I shouldn't have," Eve muttered with a voice full of remorse, succumbing to whatever haunting thought that seemed to have dawned on her.

Both keen on changing the subject, Nicholas began talking about their classes and assignments, and Eve gladly went along with it. They sat there talking for what felt like hours, and at last returned back to the campus at the dying hour of the sun.

***

Throughout the next week, Nicholas found himself often thinking about Nancy Green, and the way Eve had called her an unusual girl. It felt strange to him that on their first day here, Nancy had in fact told Luca about how weird Eve Winters was. But Nicholas couldn't see what was so odd about Eve.

But all in all, he was glad that the weekend had finally arrived and he could sleep for as long as he wished. However, things did not go as Nicholas had planned.

It was Sunday morning when Nicholas was forced awake by a loud thumping noise.

"Shawn, keep it down." Nicholas groaned as he raised his head from his pillow, eyes barely open. Although from the fringes of his eyelids, Nicholas found Shawn in bed, snoring lightly.

Confused, Nicholas threw a glance at the clock on his nightstand. It was almost six in the morning and the sky outside was still dark, heavy rain hitting against the window ragefully.

Thinking that it was just the storm, Nicholas drew the blankets on himself again and tried to go back to sleep. But the noise came again, louder this time.

Someone was banging at the door, knocking with urgency.

This time Shawn was shot awake as well, looking at Nicholas to see if he knew what was going on. Pushing the blanket off him, Nicholas squirmed off the bed and he quickly made his way over the door. But the moment he opened it, all drowsiness vanished from him and his eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

Eve was standing on the other side of the door, her hair and clothes soaking wet as she was holding a large book in her hands.

The look on her face indicated nothing but horror, her breaths coming out heavily and unsteadily.

"Eve?" Nicholas said in a hollow voice while Shawn walked toward the door as well, yawning. "What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

She shook her head curtly, finding it hard to breathe, let alone speak properly. "There's — there's something I found last night. I wanted to wait until tomorrow to tell you, but I couldn't sleep."

"What is it?" Nicholas questioned, his heartbeat picking up.

"It's about Nancy. I don't think she killed herself," Eve said breathlessly, her entire body trembling as she spoke. "She was murdered."