"Missing two full years of school is not a joke, every time I think about it, it saddens me, I wonder if you feel the same" said Stella as she frowned and Annie, Maddie and Matt looked at each other.
"Well now that you mention it Aunt Stella... it does make me feel sad..." said Annie as she was being honest, she had not really given that a thought until now.
"I mean, we should be seniors by now, in our last year of high school" said Annie as school was definitely something that never crossed her mind ever since they had moved to the witch realm.
"Exactly, my thoughts exactly, by now you should be getting ready for your graduation" said Stella as Maddie frowned, thinking about it that way was truly sad.
They did miss two full years of school, many things had happened, many things had changed, they left Sunset Village while everyone back there continued their lives.
"That is true, but you forget, we didn't just move and miss two years of school because we wanted to, we did it because we needed to, it would have been too dangerous for Annie to continue going to school while Azazel was still after her" said Maddie.
"That is absolutely true Maddie, but that still is no excuse, for these past two years you have done many things, you have overcome many challenges and grown up, and I know that you all have things that you have learnt from this, but education is still education no matter what" said Stella.
"I blame myself to be honest, regardless of if you were being trained or not, I should have made arrangements for you to continue your schooling at least now we would have a different story if that was done" said Stella.
"You shouldn't blame yourself Aunt Stella, no one thought of that, back then, our focus was on Azazel and defeating him" said Matt.
"I know Matt, but still" said Stella.
"But nothing Aunt Stella, you did what you could, we were safe here, you made sure we felt like we were at home, it doesn't matter if we didn't get to finish our education" said Annie as she smiled and she held Stella's hand that was on her desk as Stella smiled.
"Thank you Annie, I am glad that you think that way, and I do admit that what was done was done to better suit our circumstance at the time" said Stella as Maddie, Annie and Matt nodded.
"But now Azazel is gone, he is a closed chapter, nothing of him concerns any of you anymore, and for that cause, your lives need to return back to normal" said Stella.
"Things that you put on hold before will now be put off hold" said Stella.
"Which is why I want to ask you again what are your plans for the future? What do you want to do with your lives?" asked Stella as this was such a serious question, she knew that this was a very difficult question to answer so quickly without deep thought like that.
"Annie, what do you think?" asked Stella as she looked at Annie who frowned.
"I don't know Aunt Stella... it's such a hard question, now that you mentioned that we technically haven't finished high school it... I'm a bit scared..." said Annie as Stella smiled.
"That's perfectly fine Annie, it's expected, you haven't given thought to this question before, and I know why, these past two years have been very hard for you" said Stella as she smiled and Annie smiled.
"And what about you Matt?" asked Stella as she looked at Matt and smiled.
"I am not sure either... I mean I don't know what I would do..." said Matt as Stella smiled and nodded.
"And what about you Maddie?" asked Stella as she smiled at Maddie.
"To be honest Aunt Stella, I know that we can't just be freeloaders and continue living in the Palace free of charge" said Maddie.
"I know that sooner of later we are going to have to do something with our lives" said Maddie as Stella nodded.
"But I don't want to go back to school..." said Maddie.
"Don't get me wrong, I know that education is very important and all, and it really is, but I don't want to go back to Sunset Village, I don't want to have to start the 10th grade year all over again, it will just feel depressing honestly..." said Maddie as Annie agreed with her.
"All our classmates must be done already, getting ready to leave high school for good, Sunset Village is a small town, everyone knows everyone, and there's only one High school, I don't want people asking questions of where we have been, why we are repeating, it's humiliating honestly" said Maddie.
"Oh Maddie, I know how you feel, and it's normal to feel that way, I mean I went to high school as well with Sapiens, Captious and Alice, and I would totally feel humiliated if they all carried on without me and I had to repeat and stay back" said Stella as Maddie nodded.
"So you see, I don't want to go back to school in all honesty, and to let's be sincere, we did learn more on our own this past two years, than we could ever learn in school right?" asked Maddie as she looked at Annie and Matt and smiled as they nodded.
"I admire your sincerity Maddie" said Stella as she smiled.
"And I considered all these things before I decided to speak to you all" said Stella.
"Now, let me be sincere with you, as a parent, or as your Aunt who cares about you, to me the best decision you can ever take is going back to school and completing your education" said Stella seriously.
"Now, although I know that I cannot force you if you do not want to go back, however, I am going to give you good options to choose from" said Stella.
"Either you decide to not continue your education and I will not force you into doing anything or..." said Stella as she took a dramatic pause.
"Or what?" asked Annie.
"Or you decide to complete your education and instead of returning back to Sunset Village High to do that, instead you attend the Imperial Artrovan Academy" said Stella as she smiled, looking very happy.
"The Imperial Artrovan Academy?" asked Annie, Maddie and Matt in a chorus.
"Yes, the Imperial Artrovan Academy, it is the best highly acclaimed academy in the entire witch realm" said Stella as she smiled.
"Not only are they the best academy in the witch realm, but they also offer a diverse range of subjects and courses taught that do not only focus on the enrichment of young witches, but they also give try to incorporate human studies in some certain aspects so that witches will be familiar with human culture" said Stella as she had said all that so fast that Annie, Maddie and Matt were sure that they had only heard about half of that entire sentence.
Stella could see from the overwhelmed looks on their faces that she had gone a little too quickly in her last explanation, which made her realize that she had to calm down a but before she scared them off.
It was just so hard for her to be calm because she was very much excited about this, more than she should have to be honest, but who would blame her? No other school could hold a candle to Artrovan, in fact she had wanted to go to Artrovan when she was younger, but she was never accepted, so maybe right now, her extreme excitement for this stemmed from her childhood dreams.
"Their facilities are the best that any organization of their have to offer, they are very professional and have the highest success rate in the entire realm" said Stella as she reduced her tone of excitement.
She could not remember the last time she was this excited about anything to this degree.
"I could go on and on about the many, many benefits that Artrovan has to offer you, but that would just waste time" said Stella as she sounded more pained saying that, it was clear that continuing on was not something she wanted to do so quickly.
"But anyway, I am sure that you can learn more information about Artrovan later, but for now, should you chose to go to Artrovan I have a friend who happens to be the one in charge of all things that pertain to admission and applications of people that wish to attend Artrovan" said Stella.
"She could assist us with your applications and I am so sure that you are guaranteed to be accepted" said Stella as she smiled, just thinking about the possibility made her feel very happy.
"You have to believe me when I tell you that Artrovan has a lot more to offer you than you think, on first glance it seems like it will only be one thing, but after a while you truly discover the hidden treasures of being in such a dignified place that it is so difficult to compare to other institutions like it" said Stella as her eyes were literally beaming as she spoke.
Annie, Maddie and Matt looked at each other, they were taken back by Stella's proposals, they would have never expected that she would want them to go back to school, and she even went as far as preparing options for them to go to an highly esteemed academy in the Realm.
This was a lot to take in at once, they frankly did not know what to tell her, this just came up so fast and to make it even harder, Stella looked very happy and optimistic about the whole thing.
Stella collected herself as she realized that she was getting a bit too excited by just telling them about Artrovan.
Stella cleared her throat as she could see that Annie, Maddie and Matt needed some time to think this over.
"And of course I do not want to pressure you into making a decision, so you are allowed to think about it, and once you are done thinking you can tell me what you want to do" said Stella as she smiled.
"Whatever decision you choose to take, it will be completely fine with me" said Stella as she smiled and nodded her head as Annie, Maddie and Matt thought otherwise.
They could see that with how excited Stella was, she definitely would not be completely fine if they decided not to go to Artrovan.
"So what do you think? Say something" said Stella as she smiled, realizing that they had not said anything for a while now.
"Well Aunt Stella we are just…" said Annie as she did not know what to say.
"Surprised" said Maddie as Matt and Annie agreed with her.
"I know that you are, which is why I am suggesting that you take some time to view your options, decide on what you want to do" said Stella.
"Take all the time you need to think this through and once you have made your final decision you can tell me, alright?" asked Stella as she smiled.
"Alright Aunt Stella" they said in a chorus as Stella smiled.
"Wonderful, now you can all go and go back to what you were doing" said Stella as she smiled.
"Okay Aunt Stella, thank you" said Annie as she smiled and she stood up.
"You are welcome dear" said Stella as she smiled and watched them all leave her office, after all, she was only concerned for their futures.
They were young, they still had a long way ahead of them, now was not the time for them to be idle and throw away their youth, now was the time for them to work on their skills and talents and improve them.
She only wished that they would make the right decision, but as she said, whatever decision they made, she would be happy with them, after all, she cared about them so much, as if they were her own grandchildren.
…
"Well that was…" said Annie as her words trailed off as they all entered she and Maddie's bedroom.
"Unexpected" said Maddie as she sat down on her bed and finished Annie's sentence.
"Yes, very unexpected…" said Annie as she nodded and sat down on her own bed as Matt sat down on the little armchair in the corner.
"I would never have expected that she would want to talk to us about school" said Matt.
"Right?" asked Annie as she nodded.
"So… what do we think?" asked Annie as she really wanted to know what was going on in Maddie and Matt's head, she already had an idea of what she wanted to do, but she wouldn't want to take a decision to do it without discussing it with them first.
"Maddie" said Annie as she looked at Maddie as Maddie looked at her.
"Well…I don't know if it's because we've been out of school for so long, but I just don't feel the passion to go back to school" said Maddie.
"Now you can call me lazy or whatever, but leaving school for two years and suddenly going back feels so daunting to me…It feels…so weird" said Maddie.
"I know how you feel Maddie, I agree with you" said Matt as he nodded and Annie looked at him.
"We haven't been to school in two years, we've missed out on a lot, going back all of a sudden feels overwhelming, and a part of you doesn't want to do it" said Matt as Maddie nodded.
"Right? I mean we've been able to survive without it for two years, it's not that essential when you think about it" said Maddie.
"Yes, that might be true, but we have to remember, our lives won't always be like this, in the safe confines of the Palace" said Annie.
"I know that Annie, I know that you are very right, but I don't know, I don't want to go back to school" said Maddie as Matt looked at Annie.
"And what about you Annie, what do you want to do?" asked Matt as Annie looked at him.
"Well to be honest with you… I want to go" said Annie very cautiously as she didn't want to upset anyone.
"You do?" asked Maddie as Annie nodded.
"I think it would be fun and nice change to go to an all magic school… I've never been to one before we all haven't" said Annie as she chuckled.
"And Aunt Stella made the academy sound very interesting… I would like to see for myself" said Annie.
"You know that Aunt Stella would never exaggerate anything, it has to be that good to get her that excited" said Annie as they could all agree on that.
"But it's still school you know, with classes, and homework and studying" said Maddie.
"Alright now you just sound lazy Maddie" said Matt as Annie laughed.
"Maybe I am, but I'm trying to talk Annie out of it" said Maddie.
"Well you can't talk me out of it, I seriously want to go, I think it would be fun to have a change of scenery" said Annie.
"And how much do we complain of boredom? If we go to school we won't be bored anymore, we will finally have something to do" said Annie as Maddie frowned.
"And this is an even better option than going back to Sunset Village High, we would be starting the school year with different people that we haven't met before, that would make us feel better about what we missed" said Annie as she was trying so hard to convince Maddie who seriously did not look convinced at all.
"That is true" said Matt as Annie looked at him happily.
"Right??" asked Annie as she smiled.
"And come on, it's a magic school, Aunt Stella said that they have a wide range of diverse courses, I don't think that kind of school would be boring" said Annie.
"May be so, but school is still school" said Maddie as Annie frowned, she really wanted Maddie to change her mind, but she couldn't force her to, but she wanted to go.
"Actually, I've already made my decision" said Annie as she didn't want to hurt anyone, but she wanted to go and it made her sad that Maddie didn't feel the same, but she knew that Maddie would never force her to do something that she didn't want to.
"I want to go" said Annie as she looked at Maddie who was silent, and then she looked at Matt.
"Well with everything you said, I agree with you, I think that it would be fun to go somewhere else for a change, and an all magic school, that is definitely an opportunity that you wouldn't want to pass up" said Matt as Annie smiled she was relieved, at least she had Matt with her and she wouldn't have to go alone.
"What about you Maddie, what do you think?" asked Matt as both he and Annie turned to looked at Maddie at the same time.
"Oh you both are so annoying" said Maddie as she scoffed and Matt and Annie laughed.
"How come?" asked Annie as she laughed.
"If the both of you are going where does that leave me? I'm going to be all alone" said Maddie as she scoffed, they knew what they were both doing when they agreed to go.
"You won't be alone Maddie, we just wouldn't see each other all day" said Annie as she laughed.
"Oh we both know that's a lie" said Maddie as she scoffed.
"So what does that mean for your decision?" asked Matt as he smiled and Maddie sighed.
"I'm going" said Maddie reluctantly as Annie jumped up for joy as she gave Maddie a tight hug.
"Yayy, yayy yes Maddie, yes, you are not going to regret this" said Annie as she hugged her tightly.
"Yeah, yeah, I hope I won't" said Maddie as she scoffed.
"Oh come on Maddie, stop pretending, you know that if we go without you, you are going to miss us and we are going to miss you" said Matt as he smiled and Maddie scoffed.
"I would be so sad if you said you didn't want to go" said Annie as she stopped hugging Maddie.
"Apparently not sad enough not to go" said Maddie with scoff as Matt laughed.
"Let's be honest Maddie, if you wanted to do something that we didn't want to do, we wouldn't be able to stop you" said Matt as he laughed and Annie agreed with him.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, but I'm so going to tell you so when school gets so boring you wish that you never went in the first place" said Maddie.
"I don't think that's going to happen Maddie, but okay" said Annie as she smiled, she was just thrilled that she had her best friends going with her, she would be honestly too scared to go alone.