The Third Reader - The School for Good and Evil

11) Tedros

Day before The Trial By Tale, Tedros' POV

Tedros knew what he'd done was wrong.

He was annoyed.

At Sophie, at his friends, at his expectations, and most of all himself.

He was sat with Sophie in the school's outdoor lunch area, at one of the tables, they were alone, and he was distracted.

"Teddy," Sophie said, holding up two lipglosses and waving them at him, "which one would look best?"

He frowned, "Um, you should pick, you know better about that stuff anyway."

Tedros drifted back into his thoughts. A few days before, he'd seen a very troubled Evelynn avoiding him and randomly changing eye colour. Originally he had thought she couldn't care less about him, with the comments and the wry smiles, the mocking nickname. But now he had come to discover she did in fact care a great deal for him. And despite all those things she did, that's what he liked about her. He liked that she only began to like him when she got to know him. How when they first met she could only see him as cocky and arrogant. But later saw what lay beneath.

However after she pushed him away at the surviving fairytales lesson with the coffins, he told himself she would never like him romantically. That they had no chance, and they were never destined to be together. So he tried to move on, and that's when he found Sophie.

"Teddy!" Sophie snapped.

"Yes?" He turned to her.

"You're so distant lately," she pouted, placing a hand on his arm, "tell me...what's on your mind?"

Tedros couldn't tell her he was thinking about a different girl, especially Evelynn, "It's nothing."

"You can tell me," Sophie assured, smiling, "I promise I won't tell anyone else."

He barely hesitated, "I'm worried about the Trial... that's all."

Tedros's eyes wandered once more, scanning the students bustling and giggling across the clearing.

When he spotted Evelynn amongst them, he felt something he couldn't quite point.

She was on her own, expressing an anxious frown as she dodged people, her white-blonde hair falling into her face in soft waves.

She glanced up and their eyes met for a split-second, before she turned away and disappeared from sight.

"Are you sure Tedros?" Sophie asked, trying to attain his attention, "The Trial is all you're worried about? Well I'm absolutely certain you'll do fine. You're King Arthur's son! It's your destiny as a Prince, don't worry my love, it'll come easy to you."

He paused, "I wish it came easy to me because of my Father, but it doesn't, I feel like a joke at the palace, a feeble waste of space, I've worked so hard to improve my swordsmanship, to prove to everyone that I can reach the high expectations the King has set. Yet everyday I still fail, people still find mistakes and winning the Trial By Tale is going to be extremely difficult. But I can't see you being able to understand. Sophie."

Sophie's eyes widened in surprise but she tried to cover it up with a sweet smile, "I promise you Teddy, you were born for this, you'll win, take my word."

He tried to smile back, but it wasn't much, wasn't the same.

Because Tedros didn't want Sophie.

He wanted her.

And he had a plan.

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Tedros stared at the forest, shining azure in the sun's delicate rays.