Alison's Morning Back at Ashcroft

The smell of paint thinner and lemon was strong in the art studio. A harsh brushing sound echoed down the empty hallway coming from within, accompanied by a melodic hum.

The humming stopped and the moss-headed girl let out a content sigh, pulling out the earphone she had in. “It’s nice to be back. Lying around all day is so boring,” Alison voiced her thoughts.

Alison had most of Wednesday free, which allowed her to take advantage of June’s midweek day off. The day began with Alison getting into the academy early to clean up the studio, something she found therapeutic, which was followed by her attending to her personal projects.

She set down the last glazed terracotta plant pot, which June liked to use for brush cleaning, allowing it to dry. She stretched and then heard her message tone. When she spotted John’s name flash on her screen, her heart began to beat a little faster and she could feel a very light blush form.

She approached the table looking down at the phone before picking it up. She swallowed and unlocked her phone to see what he’d said.

< J: Hey, I hope you’re okay. I have to turn my phone off. I’ll text you again when I’m able to. I just wanted to let you know that I left you a gift in your locker. I hope you like it. Also if you need help figuring out how to use it or want advice about it, you should go to the gym in the old wing, knock and say who you are. I have a friend in there, tell her I said she’d better be on her best behaviour. >

The shy artist’s face flushed. “He g-g-got m-m-me a g-g-g-gift?” she stammered, staring at the message.

She felt giddy and nervous as butterflies fluttered in her stomach. That feeling fled quickly, replaced by panic as she heard the studio door opening. The surprise caused her to throw her phone into the air, and she began to juggle her phone trying to stop it from falling which she unfortunately failed at as it thudded against the thick mahogany coloured wooden desk top. Her hand snapped to the phone and she locked it. Her body remained rigid and facing the desk as her head slowly turned to see Vanessa striding towards her.

"I- V-V-Vanessa, w-what a-are you d-doing here?" the adorable mess stuttered.

Moving up behind her, Vanessa wrapped her arms around the girl. Though after seeing the colour of her face, she pulled back and placed the back side of her hand against the artist's forehead.

"Are you okay? You're really flush. You aren't starting to feel feverish again, are you?" Vanessa fussed.

Alison gently brushed the cheerleader's hand away. "I'm fine, d-don't w-w-worry. What are you d-doing here? Y-y-you should be in cl-lass," she said.

"Well, first I wanted to check up on my favouritest person, but also... Well, a little more selfishly… I needed to give you a cuddle to calm myself down. Frank has been more insufferable today," the blonde admitted, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman, burying her face into the small girl's back.

Alison put her hand over Vanessa's, stroking it with her thumb. "So, you're j-just skipping your lesson th-then?" Alison questioned.

Vanessa let out a drawn-out sigh. "As much as I'd love just to cuddle you and watch what you're working on, I only got out of class with a bathroom pass, so I'll only get away with, like, five minutes, maybe ten or fifteen if I claim I was having girl problems," she said.

The green-haired artist smiled. “I’m n-not sure they’re going to believe th-that excuse ev-every time. I’m f-feeling much better today, so I’m glad to see you. I do have things to d-do though,” Alison said, humming happily as she pulled out a large art pad.

“That’s fine. Like I said, I’m just happy to be with you, and to watch what you’re doing,” Vanessa chirped.

Vanessa put her weight onto Alison’s back, her enlarged boobs creating a pillow between them, and she watched as Alison began planning, writing down the names of several locations. The cheerleader twisted her head like a perplexed puppy as ‘knight’, ‘dragon’, and several other words found their way onto the word association list.

Vanessa shrugged off the strange additions. It was a little odd that Alison included some more fantastical ideas but maybe she’d looked at or read something while she was off that prompted them. After around ten minutes of planning, the artist cleared her throat.

“You sh-should probably get back t-to class; I’ll walk w-with you. I need to g-get something from m-m-m-my locker,” the green-haired girl said.

The mention of class put a scowl on the cheerleader's face, but she quickly became giddy, hugging the smaller girl a little tighter and craning to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’d love to walk with you. Do you want me to come with you to your locker? If you need it, I can help you carry things,” she offered.

Vanessa loosened her grip allowing Alison to stand. The smaller girl gave a warm smile but shook her head. “It’s n-nothing heavy and you sh-should get back to cl-cl-lass,” she insisted.

The two walked through the empty halls, and Vanessa stopped just shy of her classroom door. She turned to the petite artist and threw her arms around her. Alison’s head was all but **** between Vanessa’s bosom; she wasn’t able to complain as the cheerleader pulled her back out from between the valley to give her a peck on the forehead.

The blonde sighed. “I guess I’ll see you later. If you start feeling sick or need anything, text or call me. it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I’ll make sure to rush over to take care of you,” Vanessa promised.

Alison didn’t say anything, she just smiled brightly and nodded as Vanessa reluctantly walked through the door, pausing to wave as she vanished inside.

Now entirely alone in the hallway, Alison’s footsteps echoed as she walked to her locker which made a loud metallic sound as she opened it. Alison’s locker was extremely tidy; inside were the typical contents: books for various classes, a collection of neatly organised stationery, a waterproof jacket and an umbrella, but one thing was out of place.

A book seemingly thrown into the locker haphazardly disrupted the order. It was an old looking leather bound book. She reached in and pulled out the book.

It had the words “Player’s Handbook” followed by “RPG Class Starter Kit” embossed on the cover. She clutched the book to her chest. She felt a little cautious about opening or messing with the book after John had recommended getting help from his friend.

Before closing her locker, she stared at the back of the door. She smiled looking at the crumpled and slightly torn sketches, one of a fantasy village with a windmill and a wizard tower, another one with mountains and a creature she couldn’t name, one with a few different weapon designs, and the last which caused Alison not only to blush but also feel a moderate amount of self-consciousness, a buxom Viking woman holding two axes and wearing very little armour.

Each sketch was finished but discarded for one reason or another before Alison saved them, and they all bore the same pictograph signature: a little scribble in the shape of a grinning devil, the signature she knew John signed every piece of art he created.

Closing the locker, Alison took an unsure breath. She wasn’t the social butterfly that Vanessa was, so meeting new people never came easy. She turned and began slowly walking towards the old wing. ’It’s fine. If John trusts this person, they have to be someone good, right? What if they don’t like me, though? John said it was a girl, right? Is she someone John likes and wants to get into a relationship with or is she already his girlfriend? Will he pay less attention to me if there are more girls?,’ she thought, her stride slowing to a stop.

She shook her head. ’No, I already decided that I was fine with him having more girlfriends. He deserves all the love in the world, especially with how he’s been treated in the past. I’ll be more than happy so long as he loves me.’

Continuing through the school, the echoes of her footsteps became emptier as she transitioned into the old wing, each step bouncing up and down the dark dank hallway.

She passed one empty unused classroom after another until she came to the heavy double doors of the abandoned gym. Sounds of movement could be heard from beyond the door.

The knock Alison gave was so soft it was barely audible, but the sound from the other side silenced. Alison hoped the door would open without her needing to say anything. Unfortunately for her, the silence was all that persisted.

Alison cleared her throat. “I, uhm, I m-m-mean m-my-”

There was an audible gasp before the sound of frantic footsteps began getting closer and closer, then a thud followed by a loud “oof” and groan of pain, followed by more frantic footsteps.

Alison felt a wave of panic as the padding got closer. She took two steps back before the door flew open.

“Alison!” the white-haired girl blustered, letting out a squee as she collided with the artist. The spirit twisted the two of them as they fell, ensuring Alison landed on top of her.

The more petite woman was almost paralysed while Violet excitedly wriggled. “Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?” she gushed.

Eventually, the spirit let the meek moss-headed artist go, which was when Alison got to see the large red mark on the white-haired girl's face, clearly from hitting the floor.

"A-are y-you a-al- okay?" Alison asked.

Violet just beamed in response, helping the petite girl to her feet. While the spirit dusted Alison off, she picked her book back up.

"I'm more than fine. I'm so glad I get to meet you face to face. Come, let's get back into the gym; I'm probably already going to be in trouble for opening the doors for you since John said not to open the doors for anyone," she chirped happily, grabbing the other girl's hand and pulling her into the gym before locking the doors once more.

I really love hearing from you all so please do use the comment section, head to my branch discussion channel in the discord or even send me a DM. Getting a LIKE on the chapter is always great too but don't be shy.

If you enjoy my branch please consider becoming a Buy Me A Coffee member, you gain access to my private discord which allows you to see early chapters as well as art that I get commissioned for the characters in my branch. If you don't want to become a member and would rather just leave a tip or something like that, that is an option too.

I appreciate every single person who supports me whether it is in a monetary way or not and I give my sincere thanks to you all.

And as always I have to give a special thanks to my members who I have the utmost gratitude for.

Atreides
Mekkosadx
Chiyo
Mouvar
Markas Lin
Airda Notna
Demoncet
And the other members that prefer not to be named