Aria tilted her head, "Only one?"
Joseph ruffled his hair as he walked into his room, "Yeah. The new session's already started. No student will be truly graduating before next year anyway. What's the point of rushing? Anyway, which exams are you taking?"
Aria followed him and sat down in a chair as Joseph put on his tie and pulled on his coat, "Water precision and earth bending. I might go for wind bending exam if I feel like I'm up for it."
Joseph's eyes popped out, "Three at a time!? That's new."
Aria shrugged, "I'm still not sure. But as you said, students will be graduating next year..."
Joseph looked at Aria and sighed, "And I used to think I was a prodigy."
Aria made no reply as she stood up, "I'm going to pick up Helen. Water precision exam is today. You're not taking the exam, what will you do?"
Joseph yawned and shrugged his shoulders, "God knows."
Aria threw him a dirty glance and walked out of his room.
She had already picked up Helen, who had been fussing about with her hair, complaining they had grown too long, when the two ran into Jacob. He was coming down the stairs as they walked out of Helen's room.
Jacob greeted Helen and stopped dead as his eyes fell on Aria.
"What?" Aria asked.
Jacob sighed and shook his head, "I'd give anything to know what goes on in that head of yours."
Aria chuckled and Helen tilted her head. "Why? What did she do now?" She asked, grabbing Jacob's sleeve.
Jacob explained how Aria had done her hair that day and Helen was very surprised and very excited to hear it. She did not calm down until she had herself touched Aria's hair to her satisfaction.
"I wonder how you are able to handle such long hair. They are even longer than mine." Helen said as she played with Aria's braid while Aria held her hand to lead her.
But Aria did not reply, she was looking towards the opposite side of the entrance hall from where she had spotted a familiar figure.
Sure enough, Harper walked upto Aria and greeted her. She said hello to Helen and hesitated a little before smiling and greeting Jacob too.
"Aria, you will be going to the village during these holidays. Won't you?" Harper asked.
Aria scratched her head and said, "I'm really sorry Harper, but Helen's brother invited me to stay at their home this holidays. It's his birthday."
Harper shook her head and smiled. She really had changed during the past few days. "No need to be sorry. Tell me if you need to send something to Victor and Sonia, okay?"
Harper said and turned around. Aria stopped her, "Harper? Would you like to have breakfast with us?"
Harper shook her head with a smile, "Jean is taking her first exam this month. She's really nervous. I'm taking her to the forest for some practice."
Aria looked at a girl standing a few feet away from them. She really did look very nervous.
Aria smiled, "She looks nervous. Did she join this year?"
Harper nodded and said goodbye to the three before heading towards her friend.
"It's good that she found herself a friend." Aria said as she looked at Harper's back.
"Yeah." Jacob said in a small voice.