Scandal

Chapter I:

Wonderland

A/N: This chapter has been slightly altered from its original posting on 19th December 2018.

Julia's relationship with A&E was an arduously and somewhat comically carved friendship in the story of faint scars and disfigurements that had accumulated over the years, some of which were neck sprain and wrist fracture from bending over to hug a dog and slipping; knocking herself out while trying to eat nachos when jar of salsa she was giving a good shake administered the coup de grâce and walking through glass window that left her with small slices in her body. Her medical record, according to Dr Steele, was a source of joke amongst medical students that one should be wary of life's cruel gag.

She heard the automatic door slide open, the angry click-clack announcing a particular presence she very much wanted to avoid accompanied by her booming shouts of displeasure having left her teaching job in emergency after a phone call from the hospital, "Can you explain to me young lady why we're here IN A&E?! AGAIN?!"

Her dad, a much milder and quiet of the pair, followed in soon after with lines of worries sketched in his forehead, "What's going on?"

Julia always was always fascinated by her parent's interaction toward each other. They were divorced - having married each other at a mere age of 18 and 19 respectively before it lasted few years – but they seemed to be on an amicable term with each other like long-time friends even when she was a child. She hadn't even known they were divorced until she was 12. She simply thought they lived separately because of their busy jobs although she wasn't sure whether their friendship took on the least pleasant elements built on duty, rather than for their own enjoyment.

Her dad muttered something, presumably to rationalise her obviously thoughtless decision that landed her in the hospital bed but her mum simply shot him down with a warning glare, "Good reason?! Hashtag-YOLO?! Gerald, really?! What good reason is there to jump off some blimey rollercoaster?!" Directing her wrath back to the source and from the look on her face, it had to be a good damn one, "Well?"

"I just felt like it." She gave a casual shrug of her shoulder, mind blank and resigning to her fate, "I didn't want to ride anymore."

"What are you going to do WITH YOUR LIFE?!"

"Become a unicorn so I can stab people with my head."

"Oh my GOD!" Her mother growled in exasperation, pinching the slope of her nose and another hand resting on her hip.

"Now honey, she's just a baby–"

"She's 19! She's in university!"

"Ok, a child. It's a good university so she obviously works hard and is smart." He quickly interjected with a firm hand on her shoulder, "At least she didn't die.."

"Well she's gonna die from stupidity sooner or later!"

Just then, her doctor entered the room with a small smile that meant he had good news.

"Well, Jane, she's completely fine. No fractures or anything. She's good to go."

"Have you checked her for alcohol and drug?"

The doctor, a family friend, remained silent but it was more than enough for Jane to know that consumption of alcohol and perhaps drug had in fact been the trigger to the incident. Julia gulped, she knew that look in her eyes and she was rewarded with a good thump in her head.

"OW! Mum!"

"You're lucky we're in public place and we have rules here! If this was Nigeria––"

"Yeah, yeah, mum, broomstick, flippers, bamboo stick, I know."

Jane threw her hands in the air in surrender, "I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Thank you Dr Steele." Jane sighed in relief, "Say hello to your family for me."

"I'll do. Oh, Grace wants to invite you for Saturday dinner and hope you'll call her with the answer."

"Oh, yes, tell her I'll come." Jane smiled, then glared at Julia, "Well, come on than!"

Julia sighed in relief; a small thump in her head was better than being six feet underground and reached for the table to help herself to the candy jar with familiar groove, "See you later, Dr Steele."

"See you. Just try not to do anything reckless." Dr Steele shook his head, "Stay out of legal troubles!"

"Today, we will look at poison, to be precise: Arsenic," The lecturer addressed to his pupils via the small mike attached to his shirt, "You all learnt in forensic class that the unexplained death of someone with no obvious trauma and no medical history or trouble require toxicological analysis."

Half of the class (mostly dressed in their PJs) was asleep while other half seemed more immersed in their game app or YouTube on their tablets.

"Arsenic has been called 'The King of Poisons', for its discreetness and potency – it was virtually undetectable, so it was very often used either as a murder weapon or as a mystery story element. But that's until the Marsh test came and signalled the presence of this poison in water, food and the like. However, this king of poisons has taken many famous lives: Napoleon Bonaparte, George the 3rd of England and Simon Bolivar to name a few. On another note, arsenic, like belladonna, was used by the Victorians for cosmetic reasons. A couple of drops of the stuff made a woman's complexion white and pale. Just perfect!"

It was shame because the professor was trying hard to entertain them.

"The first breakthrough in the detection of arsenic poisoning was in 1775 when Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered a way to change arsenic trioxide to garlic-smelling arsine gas (AsH3), by treating it with nitric acid (HNO3) and combining it with zinc."

Up on the screen came the equation:

As2O3 + 6 Zn + 12 HNO3 → 2 AsH3 + 6 Zn(NO3)2 + 3 H2O

"Then in 1787, Johann Metzger discovered that if arsenic trioxide was heated in the presence of charcoal, a shiny black powder (arsenic mirror) would be formed over it. This is the reduction of As2O3 by carbon: 2 As2O3 + 3 C → 3 CO2 + 4 As. In 1806, Valentin Rose took the stomach of a victim suspected of being poisoned and treated it with potassium carbonate (K2CO3), calcium oxide (CaO) and nitric acid. Any arsenic present would appear as arsenic trioxide and then could be subjected to Metzger's test. However, the most common test, and used even today in water test kits, was discovered by Samuel Hahnemann. It would involve combining a sample fluid with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the presence of hydrochloric acid (HCl). A yellow precipitate, arsenic trisulfide (As2S3) would be formed if arsenic were present."

"Yess!" Julia heard her friend hiss with a discreet victorious fist in the air, "I beat your high score in flappy bird."

"Wow." She deadpanned.

"Since today is the last day of your first year, I'll shorten the lesson–"

"YEAH!" One guy in Pikachu onesie stood up with victory pump in the air eliciting laughter from the rest of the hall much to the disapproval of the professor.

"If you keep on with that attitude, the only job you'll get is mcworker."

Another laughter.

"Now enjoy your holiday, devil's spawns." He smiled, eyes wrinkling, "Play hard but work hard too."

I'm not Snow White
But I'm lost inside this forest

I'm not Red Riding Hood
But I think the wolves have got me

Don't want your stilettos
I'm not, not Cinderella

I don't need a knight
So baby take off all your armour

You be the beast,
And I'll be the beauty beauty

Take me to wonderland!
Take me to take me

"What can l get you?" The bartender shouted over the music and bustling murmurs of the people at the bar.

"I'll have a Panty Dropper."

"Screaming Orgasm."

"A Slow Comfortable Screw."

He then turned to Julia who for a moment seemed distracted by someone out of the corner of her eyes before quickly replying, "Adios Motherfucker."

"Cool!"

"Tyler is mine! Why would Tyler go for someone who's banged the whole football team and the whole rugby squad and even the whole of Ultimate Frisbee club?" Julia glanced over at the two girls in midst of heated altercation with interest, "In fact, are there any boys left in this entire uni who've managed to avoid the COMSIC SUCTION FORCE OF YOUR VAGINA?!"Julia raised her brow and silently sipped her 'Adios Motherfucker' that was slide to her from the side.

"Hey-"

"I'm married." Julia quickly dismissed, not taking her eyes off her phone. The guy looked a little put off, eyeing her obvious liberal left finger but he was smart enough to understand her message and moved on to another girl in the bar.

"That's mean." Her friend commented.

"That dude was Tyler."

"Who?"

"The guy the girls were fighting-well, fighting right now." Now the fight had evolved into fists and hair pull as crowds began to gather.

"How did you know?" They glanced over their shoulder where the guy disappeared to.

"Cuz it said it on his shirt." Julia pointed toward the guy whose shirt were printed with 'Eeyy sexay laday, oppa Taylor-style' both on front and back of his shirt before quickly dialling a number after shooing away her friends.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Hot guy from the bar who hit on you last week is here." Julia reported.

She could almost hear her friend sigh from the phone, "Tsk. J, I'm studying. Something you should learn to do."

"I'm young and enjoying life, studying isn't everything. Beside, you should be studying the ceiling of his bedroom." Julia exclaimed.

The guy, seemingly in his late 30s, sweaty, dull hair with bald patch in the middle, swirled around desperately expectant with a toothy smile.

"In what world, honey?" Julia shook her head, her finger making a u-turn and guided his chin around "Please, turn around. No."

"The poor guy." Liz noted over the phone as Julia pleaded. "Come on, take a break. It'll be good for you to get out."

"And by get out..."

"...I mean have hot guy from the bar knock you into his headboard until you see God and Jesus and all his angels in glory." Julia described.

"What is wrong with you?"

"I'm just saying what you've wanted to say all along!" Julia shrugged carelessly, "You should be studying the curve of his cock!"

"Okay, goodbye, J. Don't party too much." Liz hung up the phone with a smile.

"That too much? Hello?" Julia asked, the silence confirming her answer as she gulped down the burning vodka in one shot before she was hurled onto the centre by one of her friend.

The dance floor pounded with heat and neon lights, dying the youngsters with red and yellow as warm bodies grinded one another. The club was noisy and rowdy with laughter, bellows and cheers; the heavy scent of drugs, alcohol and perfume hung in the air and their inhibition had long since been unleashed with unabashed carelessness.

The teenagers were having the time of their life – the once in a lifetime – that will never come again and enjoying it to the fullest with recklessness and passion that could only be known to them. Body shot and keg stand and more extremities. Of course, nothing is without a consequence…or two.

Bursting into bathroom with hand over their spilling lips was a frequent sight in this place, with some unable to make it to their destination and emptying their stomach contents up on the random tile floor, most of the time a mere few feet away from the toilet.

The acidic vile content of her stomach chocked its way out of her throat while Emma, one of her friends, held her hair out of the way. Not lot of girls locked the cubicle door which meant some random girl bursting in to share the bowl and bonding over their common circumstance.

"Oh, my God!" Her friend shouted, "Someone, quickly, someone get her a water!"

"Someone take this girl home!" She heard one of her friend shout in the cubicle.

"Shit…" Her head was spinning and nausea threatened to boil back up again. Taking Es' on top of cocktail of alcohol was not helping either which she admit was stupid because she knew the effect it had down to their molecules. At least she didn't have her nose half buried in coke like others were. She wanted to get out of here. Too suffocating.

She pushed her way out of the place, staggering into a nearby park that she recognised but couldn't name; her six inch heels were threatening to sprain her ankles – and permanently this time before toppling beside the large tree. Julia wasn't sure what was so compelling about calling someone while under the influence but her fingers were already scrolling down, in search for a helpless victim and pressing calling button and onto her ear before her mind could compartmentalise her actions.

"Hello?"

"Why don't you ever call me?" Her voice was a slurred mess, jumbles of grammars that didn't really seemed to make any sense but at the time it did, "I am the onnee that alwaaayss has to text you first or call you first and that's not how it supposed to be. Like, I'm the tiger, you are the mouse but you're supposed to be the rat and I'm fuckin' Cinderella, OK?! I am a freakin glass slipper! You know what? You're boring, like I don't even like you anymore and I know that I'm supposed to tell you this when I'm sober but I think this is the best time! Ok, you need to know this! You need to stop playing games, ok? I HATE it when we play games, except for Candy Crush and Angry Birds. Those are real games! Not the stupid ones you're playing with me!"

"Sweetie, this is your mother."

"Oh now you're putting me to your mum!"

"OK, first it was the roller coaster and then a unicorn now you're drunk dialling your mum thinking I'm your ex?"

"Are you really my mum?" The bold anger in her voice diminished considerably.

"Yes, I carried you for 9 month before giving birth to you in a very painful manner Where the hell are you?"

"I don't know." She laughed, "Can you come and pick me up?"

"What do you see?"

"I'm like in between five trees and grass."

The vague description were a familiar one, the same park that Julia always ended up sprawled against the centre tree as she waited for her mother to drag her daughter's semi-comatose body back to her bed, "I know where that is. I'm coming, stay there. Ok? And don't even follow any strangers giving you candies."

"Okay.."

She rested her head on the trunk, gasping when one of her hand coming to rest collapsed through the ground and it was only then she noted that the ground was dug up then covered like rough makeshift hidden ground trap.

Julia uncovered the twigs and leaves, revealing a huge hole with bottomless depth. Wait? She frowned, is that blue? Clouds? Is that…SKY?!

Julia squint her eyes, bending down to see the questionable bottom that bizarrely resembled a clear, dry sky with cotton clouds.

"Fuck…I must be really wasted." Julia muttered, shaking her head with denial.

Ring

Ring

The sound of her phone vibrating in the other hand shifted her attention away and she heaved herself up to stand when the ground under her palm crumbled, wrenched her in like quick sand. There was a short burst of scream but the cry for help was quickly muted by the loud music.

"KYAAH!"

One guy, looked over his shoulder, "Yo, bro, did ya heard something?"

His mate followed his line of gaze but saw nothing but an empty park, void of life, "Dude, you need help. Didn't you like kept yourself awake last time for like a week to study before falling asleep at the start of your test? Since then, you've been acting weird, dude."

"I swear I heard some chick screaming!" The guy explained, earning a worrying look from his friends.

"….."

There was a slight tense silence in the group before the guy in question shouted, "I'M DRUNK! WHAT'S UP!"

"YEAHH!" His mates gave him a encouraging slap on his shoulder before they gulped down more alcohol and the partying continued.

Julia kept screaming as she tumbles head over heels down the rabbit hole. She frantically grabs at the walls which were hung with exotic objects: paintings, ancient maps, cracked mirrors, demonic masks, etc. She pulled out books, jam jars, a crystal ball, a badger claw, a monkey's hand and a human skull in her frantic effort to stop herself. And down she fell.

She looked up and saw the round bright circle of the rabbit hole and the night sky bright with neon lights above which grew smaller the further she plunged. Gradually, it grew darker as the day segued into night. And still she fell. Now she could see stars twinkling in the dark round circle of the hole as she plunged deeper and deeper beneath the earth's surface. . and still she plunges…

Finally, after what seems like hours, the bottom becomes brighter and bluer. She was certain what she was seeing right now is a sky…

Now she fell through the air, free of gravity as Julia screamed at the sight of the ground becoming nearer and dangerously closer.

WHAM!

Afraid to open her eyes because she was certain she would end up seeing a gruesome image of her death and that the solid warmth beneath her was her blood seeping through the ground.

"Ugh.."

Something groaned….or someone.

Wait?! Julia's eyes snapped open, the owner of the grunt conjuring into existence in the form of a small child. Dilated brown met green. The little child blinked several times in shock as he absorbed her sudden appearance before his cheeks slowly tinted red and Julia regarded him with a slack jaw.

What is going on?!

"What…?" The guy said in the most eloquent Received Pronunciation that she only ever heard from the Royal family, "W-What are you wearing? How did you get in here?"

Julia blinked once again before grinning back to him then pulled him into a tight embrace, "So cute! I'm Julia, what's your name?"

"W-wait!" Surprised by the abrupt and inappropriate tactile approach, he pulled away forcibly and she found herself unceremoniously slumped on the ground albeit being high were an explanation for her general weakness.

"Who are you?" He quickly recovered and staggered back to create an appropriate distance between them.

"I'm Julia. What's yours'?"

"Vincent Phantomhive." He curtly replied, "How did you enter this premise?"

Julia looked around her surrounding, squinting at the glaring sunlight to the point her eyes were almost closed, "It's not 49?" She asked, 49 being the nightclub name.

"49? I do not understand."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I must be in the wrong place." Julia profusely apologised, dismissing the weird hallucination she had experienced earlier and searched for her phone that seemed to be missing from her hand or bag. "Ah, great, I've lost my phone, do you mind lending me yours so I can call my mum?"

The poor boy never looked so confused and frightened that Julia wondered whether she said anything horrible.

"Pardon?" Was his answer after a long pregnant pause.

"Can I please borrow your phone so I can call my mum?" Julia slowly enunciated her words, "I'm waiting for my mum to pick me up. Do you know where I am?"

He couldn't understood anything she seemed to spew other than her desire to know her current whereabouts although she must have known for she was able to venture into deepest part of the property without getting caught, "Weston College."

"Weston College? I've never heard of that school before."

"Are you..alright?"

"I'm fine." She gave him a large smile then reached forward to grab his hands, "Are you okay? You look really scared. Are you lost? Do you need help looking for your mum?"

She approached closer on fours and he noted her pupils were unusually dilated and his nose caught a whiff of distinct smell of alcohol and something strong and sickly sweet that possessed to her clothes and skin. Was she..drunk? And possibly under some sort of narcotic? He was aware smoking opium was a relatively popular and favourite recreation many from all classes enjoyed and that the best opium possessed the soft and dark, the smell and texture of hash or undercooked brownies with an odd fishy edge that seemed similar with the one that clung to her skin. That would best explain why she was speaking all sort of nonsensical phrases and soliciting indecorous intimacy but he couldn't explain the absurd clothing and shoes she was wearing.

"I really need to meet up with my mum. Is there any bus or Uber I can take?" She kept on asking, "I have term paper I need to hand in for tomorrow and I have Christmas presents to shop for."

"It's not Christmas." Far from it actually.

"Next week is Christmas."

"The Christmas have passed, Miss." He said, "It's February."

"No, it's 19th December." She said then added as afterthought, "2018."

He shook his head, "It's February 6th, 1867."

Vincent studied as her face translated thousands of emotions morphing from confusion to suspicion to grinning, awareness in her eyes, "Ha! Nice try with the 'when you take a short nap and you wake up in 2020' meme. Seriously, I need to meet up with my mum soon and she hates waiting."

He scowled, unable to contain his dissipating patience and disgust to this fallen woman and stood up from the grass, dusting off his clothes and attempted to walk away. He had enough with her antics, this part of the ground was a sacred place he escaped to whenever he wanted a time he could call his own without others and her less than stellar appearance only left a bitter taste in his tongue in what was associated with peace and calm and will never be again.

"Wait!" Her arm shot out to grab his wrist, shaking it away the moment he registered the stranger's warmth on his skin. He hated being touched unless they were his mother or sister.

"Please! I'm lost and I really need to meet up with my mum and you're joking around with me!" There was a tremble in her voice and if he turned around, he would see the slight wetness in her eyes.

He sighed, shoulders slumping, "I am not jesting. You are trespassing school property and today is February 6th, 1867, one in the afternoon."

"B-but it's 2018." Julia stuttered and had she not already been kneeling, she would have toppled over from the sudden weakness of her knees, "You're lying. I-it-it can't be 1867. This is just hallucinations–– that must be it."

She shook her head, rambling on her knowledge of the drug as if apprehension would wake her up from this 'tripping episode', "You don't exist; this is all Methyl enedioxy methamphetamine talking. It is mild and rare but it's a serotonergic compound and agonist of the 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 families of serotonin receptors, as are the classic psychedelics. 5-HT agonism is associated with the experiential distortions found in hallucinogenic substances. However, this is only a weak agonism with MDMA, so the distortions tend to be mild; phosphenes, breathing visuals, and so forth. Higher doses and mixing with other substances tend to produce more intense hallucinations."

Vincent frowned, some of the words he recognised as medical but most were incoherent and inchoate. Perhaps..Asylum patient? But how would he explain her falling out of the sky? That otherworldly crack that he heard earlier from above as though the heaven had been torn open? He regarded her with scrutiny of a scientist that made a new, profound discovery only he found it difficult to grasp this could ever be explained scientifically or medically.

"What was the last thing you have seen?"

She snapped out of her own little thought, eyes wet and threatening to spill, "I-I was in a park..a-and I saw a ground had been dug up and when I looked down to it, I saw a sky. This sky. I-I fell down the hole.." Like some twisted verison of Alice in Wonderland.

He took a moment for her words to seep in before asking once again, "Do you have anything you can prove that you are..from the future?"

She jerked her head around, grabbing her black bag and shaking everything out of its content and onto the ground. Her pouch, phone charger, snacks, tissue, spare hair ties, few pain meds, snacks, headphone-her iPod. She quickly held up her iPod to him, sliding it unlock and showed him the touchscreen and images.

"I-is that enough?"

He took the bizarre contraptions, slick metal and impossibly feathery light in his hand and in it a clear, coloured photo of London he would not have recognised if not for the unchanged River Thames separating the land only connected by the bridge.

Vincent was loss for thought. Lost. Confused. Slightly scared. But he never showed it.

"You do not recognise my name."

"Vincent?"

"Phantomhive."

"The only famous family we keep up with in my time is Kardashians."

"I've not heard of such family." Vincent frowned, skimming his mind for anyone with the mentioned last name in society but came up with nothing.

"They are not famous yet." I don't even know if that last name even exists right now. "So you believe me now?"

"Yes." He returned her the small, thin rectangular object, watching as she put it back into her bag with other remaining belongings. Does that mean my family has ceased to exist by her time?

"..Can you help me then?" She pleaded, "I don't have any place to go. Do you know any place I could stay? J-just until I figure out what's happening?"

He looked askance at her entreat but said after a long moment, "I can find you an accommodation. But for now, I know a place you can hide until I figure out how to sneak you out of here. If you get caught, do not mention my name."

Her face became animated, slugged shoulders pulling back straight and becoming tall while frantically nodding as though he would rescind the offer if she hesitated, "Thank you, thank you. You won't regret it. And even if I do get caught, which I hardly doubt, I'll never mention your name or anything connected to you. My mouth is-" He wasn't sure how he could describe it but it was some sort high pitched, guttural barking that made him frown in utter confusion.

"Seals. My lips are seals." She elaborated pointedly, giving him a look that she found him exasperated that he didn't understand something that was obvious. A sharp irritation thrilled in him, desiring to voice that her fate lay entirely in his hand and it wasn't the best time for her to make any sharp remarks.

"Come." He tersely said, repressing the biting retort tingling at the edge of his tongue and offering his hand as support. She must have taken it as other meaning, giving him a firm handshake like men would after the sealing of satisfied business dealing and hobbled to a standing with the push of her free hand.

She was taller than him by many inches, his head barely reaching her chest in their flagrant déshabille. The material was dark and designed in a way it left little to imagination of her body that it was no different from being naked. He felt his cheeks grew slightly hot and instead offered him her jacket in silent plea to cover herself up. Thankfully, she did without contest although it was little too small and short. She unzipped her heeled boots, becoming slightly shorter but made no difference to their difference and followed him, hand gripping her boots.

About ten minutes later or maybe twenty she didn't really keep count because time either slowed or quicken under the influence, they arrived at a barn situated in the isolated part of the school property and hardly visited, an ideal place for her to abide her time and he espied her expression of awe and excitement as her eyes took in the place.

"My dad's family has an exact farm like this back in America and I haven't been there since I was a kid.." She ran toward the ladder connecting to the open loft, stacks of hays lined in rows on the corner but her excitement was cut short by the rumbling of her stomach. "Do you think you can get me some food and water?"

A flash of indignation flicked in his gaze, disappearing as fast as it appeared that she almost missed it although his lips were thinner and pursed so she quickly interjected with a generous offer, "I'll give you candy."

"I detest sweet things."

New information. She smirked, "But it's not just a candy, it's twentieth-first century candy." His ears perked up with interest, "So here's the deal, you bring me food and lots of water, I'll give you a candy you've never even knew existed. Or tasted"

He considered her facetiously then, "Fine. I accept your conditions. I'll be back."

She waved him goodbye, "Don't take your time!"

He bridled, lips bared back slightly, revealing soupçon of his white, straight teeth like a riled animal and probably would have growled if he wasn't so controlled for his age. Vincent exited the barn, closing the door loudly than necessary as Julia rested her head on one of haystack, staring at the floating cloud through the skylight. Her body drowned back to Earth.

By the time Vincent arrived with a basket of food and water, her lips were chapped and dry, tongue parched and painfully rubbing against the roof of her mouth like rough sandpaper and her body slightly heated and beads of salty sweats were forming on the surface of skin.

"I thought you'd abandoned me to a shitty death." She muttered as she climbed down, the world turning.

The edge of his lips twitched at her crass choice of word but made no mention of it. Good. This wasn't the best time to be told off by some brat about her vocabulary.

"It was difficult to smuggle food without anyone seeing me." Not to mention he was absolutely late for his class.

Her hands frantically reached for water inside the basket only for it to disappear behind him, "I've done my part of the deal, now you do yours'."

Julia grinned at the kid's pragmatism, nodding in approval, "Fine, fine," reaching into her bag she handed him the packet of candy to him and just as his fingers scraped its package, she swiped it away, "Middle ground shall we?"

His lip twitched into a crook smile before holding up the basket mid-air between them. Their hands grabbed onto their respective items and let the other one go.

"Now, everyone's happy." Julia shrugged her shoulder before gulping down the water without bothering to pour it to a dainty cup and biting a large chunk of bread, ignoring the knife on the bottom.

"Your table manner is non-existent." He commented dryly.

Julia dismissed him with a shrug, "I'm starving." Her voice was muffled with bread in her mouth and his brow asymmetrically rose, conveying his (ignored) disgust.

He sighed; sitting down on the ground as he watched her gulp down the food and water that reminded him of a dog burying his face in its food bowl after being starved for days and decided reading the candy package was a much more delightful interest.

"What is this candy?" He finally asked her, holding it up after reading the bizarre wordings written on it.

Pop rocks

"Pop rocks, it's a candy that basically explodes in your mouth."

"Explode?" He repeated and doubting the safety of such food that would detonate inside one's mouth, "Is it not dangerous?"

"No, it's absolutely safe." She giggled, "Look I'll show you." Ripping the corner of the package and taking the crystal shaped candy into her mouth, few seconds later he heard a quiet but dull 'pop', her expression unchanging which meant it was not a painful ordeal.

He studied them for a moment before carefully popping it in his mouth. Vincent jumped a little when the candy began to dissolve in his mouth in almost acid-like manner, pop resounding in his head. There was certain excitement in his face as he put another into his tongue.

"Good right?"

"Amazing." He said, "Do you have more?"

"I do." She said, "But I'll give you more later. Too many sweets will give you cavities."

"Do not patronise me."

Julia smiled, "I'm not. I'm saving some for myself later."

"Ah."

"So…uh how was your day?" Julia suddenly asked, desperately wishing to start a new subject that wasn't as awkward but the clichéd 'how was your day?' wasn't any better.

"My day?" He clarified in pleasant surprise, "You wish to know about my day?"

"I don't really have anywhere else to go and I don't even know where my phone went so.." Julia said the elaborated as his expression of confusion deepened, "Phone, it's a device where you type series of number that you know belongs to someone like your mum and you can hear their voice and speak to them in live time."

He nodded, "I believe I'm aware of such conception."

"Oh good."

"I have missed classes because of you. And Weizsäcker is irritating as usual."

"Weiz-sac-ker?" She repeated although the pronunciation was horribly wrong. "Is that his first name?"

"Weizsäcker. It is against the rule to refer each other by our first names but not always upheld."

"..Hm, that's a weird rule." She muttered, "I'm sorry for making you miss your class, y-you won't get in trouble right?"

"The professors are understanding." When it came to him.

"Which classes are you taking?"

"Economics, Latin, Greek, mathematics, art, music, philosophy, history, geography, religious studies, and science. The usual." He answered until Julia's jaw was hanging down to her chin by the end of the list.

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen. I shall be fourteen soon."

"T-they are making thirteen year olds take Latin and Greek? Those dead languages? What so you guys can learn to summon a demon or something?"

"Demons do not exist."

"People would beg to differ. I thought you'd be religious."

"They have yet to ask for my belief unlike you."

"Well..do you enjoy it? Is it something you chose to pursue?"

"Our decisions do not belong to us." He revealed with detachment, "Our choice affects our family that could have detrimental effect on our standings. Many students here are heir of their family after all…"

"So?" Julia deadpanned, "Your guys wealth is not yours' anyway, beside you should live the way you want, and lives are too short to study."

He frowned, puzzled look appearing on his young baby face, "It is ours'. We are to inherit them as soon as we are of age. We were born for this purpose."

"I don't think God went 'oh Vincent, I choose you to bear the greatness' and made you born into your family. Babies are created random. You're just a lucky bunch."

"It is our birth right." He clarified but it was clear he was losing the argument.

"Just because you have money in your hand doesn't mean it's yours'" Julia preached, "Wealthy or good-looking are all given by your parents. They're not earned by yourself so it's not something I'd consider to be proud of. Entertain me on this; what achievements you've made can you say with confidence wasn't because of your last name?"

"My grades are exceptional." He studied hard, not to embarrass his mother or himself.

"And who provided that education."

His lips thinned in anger, "I shall not tolerate your insults any longer."

"If you think this is an insult, then maybe I'm right." She replied, shaking head, "Okay, enough of philosophical matters, let's move on. I wasn't intentionally trying to make you angry. Just wanted to know if there's something you actually enjoy."

"Are you educated?" His question caught her off guard and realised that education in this era was something only a rich could afford. Like him.

"Most of the people are in my world."

"Even commoners?" Vincent asked.

"Yes. Unless you're in impoverished country, even the most poorest would have some sort of education." Julia sighed and took out the packet of cigarette, putting the roll in her lip, she searched for her lighter.

"Uh, you don't mind if I smoke right? I mean kids in this era smoked didn't they?"

"Men do. Women don't."

Ignoring the obviously deliberate phrased sentence, she patted down her clothes, attempting to feel for a small lighter she may have misplaced.

"Looking for this?" She turned to see the lighter in the kid's hand.

"Light it up for me." Julia neared him until their face was levelled and she could see the proximity was an uncomfortable practise for him but he made no mention, instead lit the fire with his thumb. The smoke oozed from the end of her roll and she took them between her index and middle and exhaled the deadly smoke from her lip.

"So..where am I supposed to wash."

"The only washing facilities are in our dorms and servants quarters; you'd most likely would be caught trying to use either of them."

"Is there a pond then?"

"There is."

"There is a river nearby the Swan gazebo but it is a restricted area." Said Vincent in a weary tone, "Why?"

Julia ignored his question, "Will I get caught if I go at night?"

"If you are good at being careful."