That day, as any other day, I started my wake up routine. Turned off my alarm, stretched out, said 'good morning' to Jesse and went to the bathroom. Then I removed my favorite beauty mask, which makes wonders and leaves my skin soft and acne-free, brushed my teeth, washed my face and peed.
"I'll make some tea, want some?" Jesse asked me.
"Which one?" I replied from the bathroom.
"Black".
"I'm in".
Jesse loved his tea. Here in the academy they had these kitchenettes which were rented weekly or monthly by some of the students with the strictest diets or preferences, and my friend was one of them. Sometimes he cooks for himself, but students could also hire a chef approved by the school board.
Later, Jesse and I sat at the dining hall to eat breakfast together. Only murmurs and the cutlery clicking against the plates were heard. I took another sip of my tea, which was delicious by the way.
Emilio, one of my classmates, walked towards us carrying his tray of food. He was a good guy to partner up with in group projects, and a social butterfly unlike me.
"Good morning, guys" He greeted us.
"G'morning" Jesse replied, while I nodded in acknowledgement.
"We're going to have a guy's night. Want to come?".
I was confused. I've never heard of, much less invited to one of those.
" Excuse my ignorance, but what do you do at a guy's night?" Jesse asked.
"Oh, just watch some movie and play cards" Emilio said nonchalantly "without girls around".
Well, the last part sounded really interesting. Witches were a pain in the ass sometimes.
"We'll go" Jesse said, receiving a look of disbelief from me.
"Great! I'll see you at 4 o'clock in my room; I know I said guy's night, but saying guy's afternoon doesn't sound as cool".
Then he went to eat his breakfast with his friends at another table.
"What the f*ck did you say? Why did you include me in your plans?" I asked him.
"At this rate we'll become hermits. Aren't you tired of just talking to me?"
Okay, that irked me.
"No. Are you? Because if it's like that, you can go sit to any other table: as if I had a leash on you".
"Don't get upset, dear lord, I forgot how emotional you can get".
"I'm not emotional!"
"Okay, okay, sorry. You aren't. I'm just afraid we'll grow old and regret not having more fun when we were young".
I looked at him seriously, but maybe he was right. I might not have any stories about my younger days' worth to tell to my future grandchildren.
"I'll give it a try" I decided.
"Great! We don't have anything to lose anyway; if they come up with some sh*t, we can just leave...".
"Or kick their asses".
"Yeah".
We finished our breakfast, and went our separate ways. I was an eight-grader, while Jesse was a seventh-grader, so we didn't share any class together. All of them were unexciting for me, well, maybe except for Fighting Concepts. That class was divided by gender, having one solely for boys (warlocks) and another one for girls (witches).
In the imaginary of some primitive magic users, there was this belief that witches were stronger and more magic-oriented than warlocks, so contents offered for this last group were more limited and puts us at a disadvantage. Just because they have an additional chromosome X, which is the one transmitting the magic genes, many witches thought of warlocks as the 'weaker gender' which is pure bullsh*t.
Almost all leaders of the magic world were witches, from our class representatives till the president of the magic council. It´s also no casualty our principal is a woman.
I hate that woman.
I was minding my own business during Fighting Concepts, until the girl´s class appeared out of nowhere. Their teacher said they wanted to practice a little with us, but I knew they only wanted to 'remind us' who was the stronger gender. And our teacher, being the wimp he is, allowed it.
A small group of girls was already coming towards me, but Katya (one of the most detestable witches I´ve ever known) stopped them by seriously saying 'he´s mine' referring to me. I´m not anyone´s, you delusional b*tch.
"Ha ha ha, what a joke" I replied to her, forcing a laugh "Except I hate it".
Of course, it was a lost cause. Me and my fellow warlocks lost to every witch. The slight satisfaction in Katya´s face behind her icy mask made me want to rip her mouth off her ugly face, and when I tried to get back on my feet she stomped me down again.
At that moment, the principal was crossing the hall next to us and smiled at seeing her 'precious witches' giving us crap. As I said, I hate that woman. I hope she dies gruesomely.
Even joyful Emilio had enough of this sh*t, I could see it on his face.
"Boys, say 'thank you' for your classmates' help today" -The wimpy teacher ordered us.
A few traitors to their gender obeyed him, but most of us kept quiet; which witches didn´t appreciate by the looks they gave us.
During our boy´s night that was the main topic of conversation:
"The nerve of those witches! They all already know we´re below them in terms of fighting skills, and still show up with this crap".
"It wouldn´t be a problem if all of us shared the same classes, but obviously they receive more training than us. How´s that fair?"
"Obviously they want to humiliate us. That was their only intention".
More than one nodded at the last comment, including me. Others just stayed silent or looked uncomfortable, not at all agreeing.
"I´m not paying tons of money to come here and be humiliated!".
"Money´s the least concern. What´s on game is our dignity, our honor".
"Right. We all come from respected families, and we all bust our asses studying every day, to be treated this way?".
That was true. We deserved better treatment than this.
"Don´t wanna be a party pooper, but what we´re saying right know, stays here" Emilio warned "Especially the ones that can´t wait to spill everything to their witch friends. Whoever does it, those p*ssies aren't welcome among us anymore".
My gaze turned to everyone else, distrusting. Some of these guys were mindless idiots who gladly would humiliate themselves if that makes them win favor among witches. It wasn´t a secret they came here to look for a powerful, rich wife.
On the other hand, Jesse already seemed disinterested in the conversation, but I could understand why. He was more of a 'go with the flow' guy, ignoring everything that could be potentially stressing.
"Eh... I think I´ll go watch a movie" He said, standing up.
All rooms had TVs and DVD players, so we only had to borrow some movies. I decided to go accompany him because he was right, I came here to have fun.
"Which movie do you want to see?" Emilio asked, joining us.
And so, one by one, all guys forgot the topic about witches and we choose a movie to watch. Emilio already had brought food and drinks, so hunger wasn´t a problem, and then we watched another one.
Jesse laughed at some of the deaths, and all of us looked at him weirded out.
A guy was falling asleep over me during second movie, and I pushed him off gaining another round of laughs.
Emilio startled a cowardly guy, who hilariously jumped and screamed.
We all mocked a guy who had a nature´s call every five minutes.
So, this is how a guy´s night is. I like it.