Ember and Anne paired up while Luna and Claude decided to team up   which left Edmund and Avelyn to work together.

The first pair were working toward the extreme front of the shelf whereas the second were sorting the books in the centre. Avelyn and Edmund were dealing with the books at the back.

"You know," Edmund dusted a book he'd just taken down "you won't turn to stone if you look at me. I'm not Medusa"

"Can we just get this over with?" Avelyn muttered.

"I told you I was sorry"

"And that's just supposed to fix everything?"

"No i-" the boy sighed "I'm not saying that it's all over and behind us. I'm asking you to give me a chance to make it up to you"

"I'm not sure" Avelyn looked at him "you have no idea how it felt and I don't want to go through it again"

"You won't have to" he stepped closer "please Avelyn, don't push me away. You don't want to"

"But you-"

"I didn't want to" he spoke softly "I forced myself to because it hurt"

Avelyn gazed into his eyes. She could tell he wasn't lying, the guilt was visible on his face and audible in his voice.

"Oi" Anne called out "lovebirds! Are you both done?"

Avelyn and Edmund shuffled away from each other a bit

"Shut up Anne" Avelyn muttered.

"She meant with the books" Ember grinned "or is there something else that you two need to finish too?"

"We're done" Edmund quickly answered "with the books"

Avelyn rolled her eyes at the girls' giggling.

The kids had piled the books into the three categories Edmund had mentioned and then started to place the books back on the shelf in order.

It had been almost 3 hours when they were finally done.

"Thanks" Avelyn smiled at her friends "for helping out"

"Ah, no problem" Luna shrugged.

"How long until dinner?" Claude asked.

"Another 2 hours I guess" Avelyn replied.

"Oh good" she stretched "I'm going to take a nap"

"Me too" Ember joined "one of you wake us up in an hour or so"

"Sure" Anne spoke "I was going to our dorm anyway to write to mum"

"I'll be with my siblings" Edmund added.

"I'll come with" Avelyn replied to Ed "that's if it alright"

"Yea, no problem"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lucy questioned for the fifth time

"We need to know what happened" Susan reminded.

The sisters and Peter were currently in Edmund's dorm. None of the boys Edmund shared the room with were there so that gave them the perfect chance to go look for the letters.

"I know Edmund keeps them all in his binder" Peter spoke in a hushed tone "we just have to find out where it is. Now I know Ed, he won't leave in a place easy to find. It'll be hidden off amongst his clothes in the suit case or maybe-"

"Is this it?" Lucy asked, pulling out a leather binder from under a pillow.

"Suppose you do know Ed" Susan chuckled as they all sat down on Edmund's bed.

They flipped through some letters till they finally found Avelyn's. There were about 12 letters.

They picked up the first one

Dearest Edmund,
                               It's been raining all day today and it's so annoying that there's nothing I can do to pass time. Reminds me of that time back in Kirk's Mansion when we all played hide and seek while it rained. I miss it so much.
            
                 Dad's not going to be home anytime soon, he just wrote to me. He'd also mentioned you in the letter since I wrote to him about you. Safe to say he's pretty fond of you, maybe even more than me.
       
                My aunt says that she's about to enrol me into a new school in a few months. That means I'll have to move again, I hate it. I hope your doing well. I miss you all so much and I can't wait until I meet you all again

Yours truly,
Avelyn
                                                   

                               
And the next,

Dear Ed,
              It's been a month since you last wrote. Maybe you didn't receive my previous letter. It could've gotten lost. It happens a few times when dad writes to me or I to him.
                      The school took us to a zoo today. I don't know why, we're old enough to know which animal is which, aren't we. Except, I almost yelled 'Asher!' When we I saw a snow leapord.  How silly of me, I know.
                   I hope you write soon, give my regards to the others. I miss you.

Love,
Avelyn.

And another one,

Dear Edmund,
                         I don't know if you've gotten any of my letters that I've  been writing for so many months or maybe you have and you aren't writing back. It's been almost 8 months since you last wrote.
              I don't understand why, nor can I think of any reason why you would have to ignore me. If I've said something unknowingly, tell me.
             I'm honestly starting to worry Ed. Please write back to me.

Avelyn.

And that was pretty much the last letter from the lot.

They'd notices that in some of the letters the ink had smudges, as if someone cried while reading them.

"So they didn't fight" Susan put away the letter back to the binder "he was avoiding her since so long"

"But why" Lucy tilted her head "why would he want to avoid her when he loved her so much"

"Maybe that's why" Peter said as he pushed the binder back under Ed's pillow "he probably thought he'd never see her again and he,"

"Wanted to forget her" Susan finished sadly "but that's no solution"

"He was broken, wasn't he?" Lucy said "the smudges in the ink, he'd been crying"

"Should we ask him about it?" Peter questioned

"We should" Susan stood up "he's not been in the best mood lately"

"Come on" Lucy walked toward the door "they must've come back from the movies by now, he'll be waiting for us in the garden"

With that, the siblings walked out, heading for the school gardens.